GIFT  OF 


PRESS 


•5-7 


MODERN    GAS    AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


By  Albert  Spies. 


'AS    engines,    at  the  pres- 
ent   day,    are     common 
enough,   the  past  ten  or 
twelve  years  having  wit- 
nessed the  production  of 
a    host    of    designs,     al- 
though of  these  probably 
by  far  the  larger  number 
have   gained   little  more 
publicity  than  that  afford- 
ed  by  the    patent;  office 
records  of  different  coun- 
tries.    But  the  more  for- 
tunate ones, — those  that 
have  been  put  into  mar- 
ketable  shape  and  sold   for  a  variety 
of  motive  power  purposes, — have  been 
sufficient  to   amply  advertise   this  type 
of  motor  and  to  practically  demonstrate 
its  applicability  to  many,  if  not  all,  the 
uses   to  which   the    steam   engine    has 
hitherto  been  put.     It  would,  therefore, 
seem  almost  unnecessary  to  more  speci- 
fically define  it  as   an  engine  in  which 
the  working  fluid  is  an  inflammable  gas, 
or,  more  correctly,  a  mixture  of  atmos- 
pheric air  and  inflammable  gas,  intro- 
duced directly  into  the  engine  cylinder 
and  there  ignited  and  burned.     All  gas 
engines,  while  they  may  differ  widely 
in  theory  of  action  and  mechanical  con- 
struction, possess  in  common  this  one 
feature  of  heating  the  working  fluid  in 
their  cylinders  proper.     Compared  with 
the  steam  engine  as  a  familiar  example, 
and     with     most     hot     air     engines, 
we  thus  find  in  the  gas  engine   relative 
simplicity  in  so  far  as  no  separate  fur- 
nace is  necessary  in  which  to  burn  the 
fuel  from  which  the  energy  is  primarily 
derived  ;    furthermore,    the   energy   is 
available  at  exactly  the  moment  needed, 
and  there  is  no  storing  up  of  heat  in  the 
same  sense  as  in  the  steam  engine  and 
boiler  combination.     Hence,  it  will  be 


seen  that  the  gas  engine  also  has  a 
special  applicability  in  all  cases  where 
continuous  work  is  not  required. 

Concerning    the   origin    of  the    gas 
engine  there  is  no  definite  information. 
By  some  it  has  been  dated  as  far  back 
as  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century  when  gunpowder  was  proposed 
and  used  for  obtaining  motive  power  in 
special  apparatus.    These  early  engines, 
however,     can     scarcely    be    properly 
classed  as  gas  engines.     The  first  gas 
engine,  in  the  now  accepted  sense  of 
the  term,  was  probably  that  patented  in 
the  year  1791,  in  England,  by  one  John 
Barber.      It  provided  for  the  use  of  coal, 
wood,  oil  or  any  combustible  in  a  retort, 
the  generation  of  vapor  or   gas   from 
such  combustible,  and  the  collection  and 
cooling  of  the  gas  in  a  reservoir.   Thence 
the   gas   was   taken    to    a   compressor 
which  supplied  the  motor  cylinder,  and 
in  this  latter  the  gas  was  mixed  with 
atmospheric  air  in  proper  proportion, 
and  exploded  by  a  light.     This  engine 
embodied,  in  the  main,  the  principle  of 
the  modern  gas  engine.     Three  years 
later,     in     1794,     Thomas    Mead    and 
Robert  Street  both  obtained  patents  in 
England   for   gas    or    vapor    engines, 
Mead  proposing  to  raise  the  piston  in 
his  engine  cylinder  by  the  ignition  of  a 
gaseous,     explosive     mixture    and    to 
utilize   for   the   down-stroke  both    the 
weight  of  the  piston   and  the   partial 
vacuum    formed    underneath    it.     This 
was,  in  part,  the  principle  of  the  much 
later  Otto  and  Langen  engine.     Street's 
engine,  on  the  other  hand,  partly  antic- 
ipated    the    also    much    later    hydro- 
carbon engine  of  George  Brayton,  pro- 
viding, as  it  did,  for  the  production  of 
motive    power   by   introducing   a   few 
drops  of  spirits  of  turpentine  into  the 
heated  bottom  of  a  cylinder.     The  tur- 


34i 


464520 


342 


GASSIER 'S    MAGAZINE. 


pentine  was  vaporized  by  the  heat,  air 
was  mixed  with  it  in  sufficient  quantity 
to  produce  an  explosive  compound,  and 
a  flame  was  applied  to  ignite  it.  The 
next  patents  for  gas  engines  were  not 
issued  until  nearly  thirty  years  later 
(1823).  From  that  time  on  they  ap- 
peared at  shorter  intervals  until  more 
recently,  when  design  crowded  design  in 
rapid  succession,  so  that  now  the  gas 
engine  patents  are  numbered  by  the 
hundreds.  The  essential  differences  be- 
tween the  inventions,  however,  are  not 
very  great.  In  many  cases,  in  fact,  it 
seems  sadly  true  that  the  inventors 
have  been  satisfied  with  producing 
simply  some  detail  by  which  the  orig- 


chine  of  simple  construction,  and  very 
similar  in  appearance  to  an  ordinary 
horizontal  steam  engine.  The  piston 
moving,  say,  from  the  right  to  the  left 
drew  in  a  mixture  of  illuminating  gas,  or 
of  hydrogen,  and  air  through  a  slide 
valve  worked  by  the  engine.  When  a 
certain  quantity  of  this  mixture  had  en- 
tered the  cylinder,  the  slide  valve  shut 
off  the  supply  and  an  electric  spark  from 
an  induction  coil  kindled  the  gas  and 
caused  an  explosion  which  drove  the 
piston  to  the  other  end  of  its  stroke. 
Arrived  there,  at  the  left  end,  a  second 
slide  allowed  the  products  of  combus- 
tion to  escape  while  the  fly  wheel,  by 
reason  of  its  momentum,  went  on  and 


FIG.   I.— PLAN   VIEW   OF   THE   ORIGINAL   OTTO   SLIDE-VALVE  ENGINE. 


inal  patents  could  be  avoided,  rather 
than  anything  which  really  marked  a 
step  in  advance. 

It  would  be  impracticable  to  here 
follow  the  history  of  the  gas  engine  in 
anything  like  detail  from  its  earliest 
days  to  the  time  when  it  became  justly 
looked  upon  as  a  distinctly  practical 
and  useful  source  of  power.  A  few  of 
the  types,  however,  which,  though  com- 
paratively crude  and  more  or  less  im- 
perfect, still  came  into  somewhat  ex- 
tended use  and  practically  opened  up 
the  era  of  commercially  successful  gas 
engines,  deserve  mention.  The  first  of 
these  was  the  Lenoir  engine,  made  even 
at  this  date  in  a  modified  form,'  a  ma- 


moved  the  piston  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion, from  left  to  right.  While  it  moved 
in  this  direction,  the  explosive  mixture 
again  entered  and  was  ignited  as  before, 
and  the  piston  completed  its  travel  to 
the  right  under  the  impulse  of  this 
second  explosion.  The  action,  it  will 
be  seen,  was  thus  very  similar  to  that 
of  the  ordinary,  familiar  steam  engine. 
To  prevent  overheating  of  the  cylinder 
and  piston,  the  former  was  surrounded 
with  a  jacket  filled  \vith  cold  water. 

Following  the  Lenoir  engine  came 
that  of  Hugon,  in  which  the  tendency 
to  become  overheated  was  counteracted 
by  introducing  into  the  cylinder,  to- 
gether with  the  gas  and  air  mixture,  a 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


343 


quantity  of  water  which,  in  vaporizing, 
absorbed  considerable  heat  and  thus 
kept  the  temperature  within  a  reason- 
able limit.  The  expansive  force  of  the 
gases  was  in  this  way,  it  is  true,  some- 
what diminished,  but  the  moving  parts 
suffered  less,  and  the  engine  required 
less  repair  and  was  more  durable.  Igni- 
tion of  the  explosive  charge  was  effected 
by  a  gas  jet. 

A  number  of  years  after  the  bringing 
out  of  both  these  engines,  Otto  and 
Langen  together  entered  the  gas  engine 
field  with  what  they  termed  their  atmos- 


motor  cylinder  took  its  supply  from  the 
receiver,  but  the  mixture  was  ignited  as 
it  entered,  a  grating  arrangement  pre- 
venting the  flame  from  passing  back. 
The  mixture  proper,  in  fact,  did  not 
enter  the  motor  cylinder  at  all  ;  what 
entered  it  was  a  continuous  flame  and 
the  action,  therefore,  was  not  explosive 
in  character.  At  a  certain  point  the 
supply  was  cut  off,  and  the  piston 
moved  on  to  the  end  of  its  stroke  under 
the  influence  of  the  expansion  of  the  hot 
gases.  The  flame  grating  in  this  engine, 
however,  was  a  weak  point.  If  by  any 


FIG.  2. — THE  OTTO  GAS   ENGINE,   BUILT   BY  SCHLEICHER,   SCHUM  &  CO.,  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


pheric  or  free  piston  engine  for  which 
they  were  awarded  a  gold  medal  at  the 
Paris  Exposition  in  1867.  The  main 
features  of  this  engine  are  briefly  re- 
ferred to  further  on. 

The  Bray  ton  engine,  an  American  in- 
vention, was  first  brought  out  in  1873. 
It  had  two  cylinders,  one  being  a  com- 
pressor and  the  other  a  motor  cylinder. 
The  charge  of  gas  and  air  was  first 
drawn  into  the  compressor  cylinder  on 
the  out-stroke,  and  on  the  back-stroke 
was  compressed  into  a  receiver.  The 


accident  the  grating  or  wire  gauze  was 
pierced,  in  cleaning  for  example,  the 
flame  went  back  into  the  receiver  and 
exploded  the  whole  stored-up  mixture. 
Such  accidents  became  so  troublesome 
that  Mr.  Brayton  after  a  time  discon- 
tinued the  use  of  gas  and  converted  his 
engine  into  a  petroleum  motor.  Light 
petroleum  was  pumped  upon  the  grat- 
ing and  the  compressing  cylinder 
charged  the  receiver  with  air  alone. 
The  air,  in  subsequently  passing  through 
the  grating,  carried  the  petroleum  along 


344 


CASSIER'S    MAGAZINE. 


FIG.  3. — OTTO   GAS   ENGINE  AND   DYNAMO   FOR   HOUSE  LIGHTING. 


with  it,  partly  in  vapor,  and  partly  in 
spray  form.  This  oil  vapor  and  air 
mixture  was  then  ignited  just  like  the 
previously  used  gas  mixture.  The 
arrangements,  in  fact,  were  precisely 
similar  to  those  of  the  gas  engine, 
except  in  the  addition  of  a  small  oil 
pump  and  a  slight  alteration  in  the 
valve  disposition.  The  engine,  as 
may  be  understood,  was  single-acting. 


Right  here  it  should  be  pointed  out 
that  the  similarity  between  the  orig- 
inal Brayton  gas  engine  and  the  con- 
verted Brayton  engine  using  petro- 
leum is  typical,  also,  of  all  gas  and  oil 
engines  of  the  present  day.  All  the  oil 
engines  follow  the  lines  of  the  gas  en- 
gines very  closely  ;  in  fact,  in  some  of 
the  gas  engines  now  on  the  market  gas 
or  oil  mixtures  can  be  used  indiscrimi- 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


345 


nately,  the  engines  working  well  with 
either,  ^and  without  modifications  of 
designs  to  suit  the  particular  kind  of 
fluid  used.  A  distinct  classification  into 
oil  motors  and  gas  motors  cannot, 
therefore,  be  well  made,  and  both  may 
be,  very  appropriately,  considered  to- 
gether under  practically  one  head. 

Broadly  speaking,  however,  the  va- 
rious engines,  early  and  modern,  and 
using  either  gas  or  oil  mixtures,  maybe 
divided  into  a  few,  well-defined  types  : 

i.    Engines  drawing  into  the  working 


discharging  the  gas  mixture  into  a  re- 
ceiver or  reservoir  in  a  state  of  compres- 
sion. From  this  receiver  the  mixture 
enters  the  motor  cylinder,  being  ignited 
as  it  enters.  The  ignition  here  does  not 
increase  the  pressure,  but  increases  the 
volume.  The  pump,  say,  puts  one 
volume  or  cubic  foot  into  the  receiver  ; 
ignition  causes  it  to  expand,  while  enter- 
ing the  cylinder,  to  two  cubic  feet.  It 
does  the  work  of  two  cubic  feet  in  the 
motor  cylinder,  so  that  though  there 
is  no  increase  of  pressure,  there  is  never- 


FIG.  4.— OTTO  GAS  ENGINE  AND  PUMP  COMBINED. 


cylinder  gas  or  oil  vapor  and  air  at  atmos- 
pheric pressure  for  a  portion  of  the  piston 
stroke,  cutting  off  communication  with 
the  outer  air,  and  igniting  the  mixture. 
The  pressure  of  the  ignited  gases  pushes 
the  piston  forward  during  the  remainder 
of  the  stroke,  and  the  in-stroke  of  the 
piston  expels  the  products  of  combus- 
tion from  the  cylinder. 

2.  Engines  in  which  a  mixture  of  gas 
or  oil  vapor  and  air  is  drawn  into  a  pump 
forming  part  of  the  engine  proper,  and 


theless  an  excess  of  power  over  that 
spent  in  compression.  The  return 
stroke  of  the  piston  again  expels  the 
products  of  combustion. 

3.  Engines  in  which  a  mixture  of  gas 
or  oil  vapor  and  air  is  compressed,  or  in- 
troduced under  compression,  into  the 
cylinder  or  space  at  the  end  of  the  cylin- 
der, and  is  then  ignited,  the  volume  re- 
maining constant  and  the  pressure 
rising.  Under  this  pressure  the  piston 
moves  forward,  and  on  its  return  as  in 


MODERN   GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


347 


the  previous  types,  discharges  the  waste 
gases  from  the  cylinder. 

Types  i  and  3  are  explosive  engines, 
the  volume  of  the  gas  remaining  con- 
stant while  the  pressure  increases. 
Type  2,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  grad- 
ual combustion  engine  in  which  the 
pressure  is  constant  while  the  volume 
increases.  The  third  type  is  generally 
regarded  as  the  best  kind  of  compres- 
sion gas  engine  yet  introduced,  and  by 
far  the  largest  number  of  gas  engines 
now  in  every  day  use  are  made  in  ac- 
cordance with  its  requirements.  The 
leading  idea,  compression  and  ignition 
at  constant  volume,  was  first  proposed 
by  Barnett  in  1838,  and  later  by  several 
others,  but  Otto  was  the  first  to  success- 
fully apply  it  in  1876,  in  the  now  well- 
known  engine  bearing  his  name. 


cannon,  for  example.  It  is  thus  shot 
forward  in  the  cylinder,  which  is  pur- 
posely made  very  long.  The  energy 
of  the  explosion  gives  the  piston  velo- 
city, and  the  piston  therefore  continues 
to  move  considerably  after  the  pressure 
has  fallen  by  expansion  down  to  atmos- 
pheric pressure.  Owing  to  this  and  to 
the  cooling  of  the  gaseous  products  a 
partial  vacuum  is  formed  behind  the 
piston  till  its  whole  energy  of  motion  is 
absorbed  in  doing  work  against  the 
pressure  of  the  outside  air.  It  then 
stops  and  the  external  pressure  causes 
it  to  perform  its  return  stroke,  during 
which  a  clutch  arrangement  connects  it 
with  the  motor  shaft,  giving  the  latter 
rotary  motion.  The  piston  during  its 
return  stroke  proceeds  completely  to 
the  bottom  of  the  cylinder,  expelling 


FIG.  6. — FIELDING'S  GAS  ENGINE.    SIDE  ELEVATION. 


There  still  remains  one  important 
type  of  gas  engine  not  included  in 
this  classification.  It  is  the  kind  of 
engine  known  as  the  free  piston  or 
atmospheric  gas  engine  already  re- 
ferred to  above,  and  may  be  regarded 
as  a  modification  of  the  first  type.  The 
first  part  of  its  action  is  precisely 
similar  ;  the  latter  part  differs  consider- 
ably from  it.  In  this  engine  the  piston 
on  moving  forward,  takes  in  its  charge 
of  gas  and  air  from  without  at  atmos- 
pheric pressure  and  temperature.  When 
cut  off  it  is  ignited  instantaneously,  the 
volume  being  constant  and  the  pressure 
increasing.  The  piston  is  not  connected 
directly  to  the  motor  shaft,  but  is  per- 
fectly free  to  move  under  the  influence 
of  the  explosion,  like  a  projectile  in  a 


the  products  of  combustion.  This  kind 
of  engine  was  first  proposed  in  1854  by 
Barsanti  and  Matteucci,  but  Otto  and 
Langen,  as  previously  mentioned,  in 
1866,  were  first  successful  in  overcom- 
ing the  practical  difficulties  in  its  way, 
and  many  engines  were  built  by  them 
for  practical  uses.  The  engine  though 
cumbersome  and  noisy,  was  a  good  and 
economical  worker,  and  many  are  prob- 
ably still  in  operation  to-day. 

It  is  scarcely  within  the  province  ot 
this  article  to  take  up  the  theoretical 
considerations  presented  by  these  repre- 
sentative types  of  gas  engines.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  the  causes  of  the  com- 
parative efficiency  of  the  modern  gas 
engine  over  the  older  forms,  such  as  the 
Lenoir  and  the  Hugon  engines  may  be 


348 


GASSIER  >S   MAGAZINE. 


summed  up  in  the  one  word  "  compres- 
sion." Without  compression  before 
ignition  an  engine  could  not  be  pro- 
duced which  would  furnish  power 
economically  and  with  small  bulk. 

To  the  prospective  user  of  a  gas 
engine,  the  question  of  cost  of  opera- 
tion, or  more  specifically  the  cost  of 
fuel  used  for  a  given  amount  of  power 
is,  as  might  naturally  be  expected,  one 
of  the  first  to  present  itself.  That  the 
fuel  or  gas  cost  is  unduly  great  has  been, 
and  is  still,  a  more  or  less  prevalent 
impression  and  the  fact  seems  to  have 
been  largely  lost  sight  of  by  many 
power  users  that  the  development  of  the 
gas  engine  from  what  was  at  first  per- 
haps little  more  than  an  interesting 


driving  electric  light  dynamos,  esti- 
mated that  the  steam  engines  in  ques- 
tion would,  in  a  competition,  consume 
about  four  pounds  of  coal  per  indicated 
horse-power  per  hour,  but  that  in 
ordinary  work  their  consumption  would 
run  up  to  six  and  seven  pounds.  As- 
suming a  four-pound  basis,  however, 
which  seems  pretty  fair,  and  taking,  for 
the  sake  of  illustration,  the  price  of  coal 
as  $5  per  ton,  we  get  for  the  cost  of  a 
horse-power  for  fuel  in  these  engines 
one  cent  per  hour.  At  the  rate  for  gas, 
paid  in  London  at  the  time, — three 
shillings,  or  about  seventy-five  cents 
per  thousand  cubic  feet, — the  cost  of 
one  horse-power  in  the  gas  engine 
would  amount  to  one  and  one-half  cents 


FIG.  7 —FIELDING'S   GAS   ENGINE.      PLAN   VIEW. 


novelty  to  a  source  of  even  large  powers 
at  the  present  day  has  naturally  brought 
with  it  much  increased  efficiency  and 
correspondingly  reduced  running  ex- 
penses. Just  what  these  expenses  are, 
so  far  as  they  are  affected  by  the  items  of 
gas  quality  and  cost,  of  course  depends 
much  upon  special  circumstances.  The 
price  of  gas  as  well  as  its  quality  varies 
with  locality  and  time,  and  definite  state- 
ments of  cost  can  therefore  not  easily 
be  given. 

Professor  Ayrton,  in  England,  sev- 
eral years  ago,  in  comparing  the  fuel 
costs  of  gas  engines  and  of  portable 
and  semi-portable  steam  engines  to 
determine  the  relative  expenses  in 


per  hour.  Taking  the  highest  prices 
paid  in  London  for  gas, — four  shillings, 
or  about  one  dollar  per  thousand, — the 
gas  would  cost  two  cents  per  horse-power 
per  hour.  This  makes  a  very  favorable 
showing  for  the  gas  engine,  which  has  so 
many  advantages  and  economies,  as 
compared  with  the  steam  engine,  as  to 
easily  overbalance  its  slightly  higher 
fuel  cost.  In  the  United  States,  where 
the  prices  for  gas  are  considerably 
higher,  the  comparison  of  the  fuel  costs 
would,  of  course,  be  somewhat  less 
favorable  to  the  gas  engine.  Much, 
however,  is  to  be  expected  both  here 
and  abroad,  in  the  direction  of  cheaper 
heating  gas,  and  there  seems  little 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES, 


349 


FIG.  8  — THE  DAY  GAS  ENGINE.       MESSRS.   LLEWELLIN  &  JAMES,   BRISTOL,   ENG. 


reasonable  doubt  that  such  a  gas  can  be 
made  and  will  probably  be  made  in  the 
near  future,  and  will  render  the  ordinary 
gas  engine  up  to  a  certain  size,  much 
more  economical  in  running  expenses 
than  an  equal  sized  steam  engine.  Even 
as  it  is,  however,  with  gas  at  the  cur- 
rent rates,  the  gas  engine  in  a  great 
many  cases  foots  up  a  smaller  expendi- 
ture for  a  given  horse-power  than  the 
steam  engine.  There  is  always  a  very 
considerable  saving  when  standing  still, 
and  this,  when  the  stoppages  are 
frequent,  may  amount  to  a  most  appre- 
ciable total. 

As  a  sample  of  what  may  be  accom- 
plished with  a  cheap  heating  gas  we  call 
to  mind  a  low  cost  gas  enterprise, 


started  a  number  of  years  ago  in  the 
vicinity  of  New  York  City,  by  which 
heating  gas  was  made  on  a  large  scale 
under  the  Strong  patents.  From  figures 
that  were  received  at  the  time  it  ap- 
peared that  this  gas  had  been  used  in  an 
Otto  engine  at  the  rate  of  thirty-five 
cubic  feet  per  hour  for  each  horse-power. 
As  the  gas  was  produced  at  the  rate  of 
about  twenty-seven  cubic  feet  per  pound 
of  coal,  it  is  easily  seen  that  the  engine 
was  running  on  an  equivalent  of  a  little 
less  that  one  and  one-third  pounds  01 
coal  per  horse-power  per  hour.  At  the 
common  retail  price,  the  gas  was  worth 
fifty  cents  per  1000  cubic  feet  and  there 
was  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
price  could  be  reduced  by  a  large  per- 


350 


CASSIER'S   MAGAZINE. 


centage  in  the  case  of  a  larger  plant. 
Ample  evidence  was  given,  however,  to 
show  that  with  the  plant  in  question  a 
great  saving  over  coal  was  effected,  even 


FIG.  9  — THE   DAY   GAS   ENGINE.      FRONT 
SECTIONAL   ELEVATION. 


though  it  did  not  produce  the  gas  at 
the  lowest  possible  rate. 

In  several  other  cases  in  England 
where  Otto  gas  engines  were  supplied 
with  cheap  Dowson  gas  from  Dowson 
producers  specially  erected  for  the  pur- 
pose, it  was  found  on  test  that  the 
engines  consumed  on  an  average  the 
equivalent  of  1.2  pounds  of  coal  per 
indicated  horse-power  per  hour.  These 
results  at  the  time  had  not  a  little  to  do 
with  the  subsequent  building  in  England 
of  gas  engines  of  comparatively  high 
powers, — double-cylinder  engines  indi- 
cating in  the  neighborhood  of  seventy 
horse-power. 

As  to  the  possibilities  of  the  uses  of 
gas  and  its  future  as  a  source  of  power, 
it  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  refer  finally 
to  one  of  C.  William  Siemens'  addresses 
to  the  British  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science  in  which  he  ex- 
pressed the  conclusion  that  if  a  tem- 
perature of  about  2732  degrees  Fahren- 
heit and  a  pressure  of  four  atmospheres 


could  be  obtained  in  an  explosive  gas 
engine,  a  theoretical  efficiency  of  about 
one-half  could  be  obtained,  while  with  a 
good  expansive  steam  engine  the  theo- 
retical efficiency  would  be  about  two- 
sevenths.  Deducting  the  losses  by 
friction  and  by  radiation  in  both  kinds 
of  engine,  he  held  that  the  best  steam 
engine  would  yield  in  mechanical  effect 
about  one-seventh  of  the  heat  energy, 
while  with  the  gas  engine  one-fourth 
could  be  easily  obtained.  As  a  predic- 
tion he  finally  remarked  that  ' '  before 
many  years  we  shall  find,  both  in 
factories  and  on  board  ships,  engines 
with  a  fuel  consumption  not  to  exceed 
one  pound  of  coal  per  effective  horse- 
power per  hour,  and  with  these  engines 
the  gas  producer  will  take  the  place  of 
the  steam  boiler."  This  prediction, 
made  a  little  more  than  ten  years  ago, 
has,  as  we  all  know,  scarcely  yet  been 
fully  realized  though  much  progress  has 
been  made  in  the  direction  outlined,— 
how  much,  it  is,  in  a  measure,  our 


FIG.  10.— THE   DAY   GAS    ENGINE. 
SIDE   SECTIONAL    ELEVATION. 


object  to  show  here  by  an  exposition  of 
the  various  gas  and  oil  engines  now  in 
current  use,  doing  a  large  variety  ol 
work. 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


THE   OTTO   GAS   ENGINE. 

It  seems  but  rational  and  proper  that 
we  should  begin  our  series  of  descrip- 
tions with  an  account  of  the  Otto  engine, 
or  Otto  "Silent"  engine  as  it  was 
called  in  its  earlier  days,  since  Mr.  Otto, 
the  first  to  succeed  with  the  free-piston 
engine,  was  also  the  first  to  succeed  in 
adapting  compression  in  a  reliable  form, 
and  since,  further,  it  is  to  the  utilization 
of  this  compression  principle  that  the 
gas  engine  owes  its  present  advanced 
state  of  development.  The  Otto  engine 
belongs  to  the  third  type  previously 
referred  to,  using  a  gaseous  explosive 
mixture,  compressed  before  ignition, 
and  ignited  in  a  body,  so  that  the  press- 
ure increases  while  the  volume  remains 
constant.  The  power  is  obtained  by 
expansion  after  the  increase  of  pressure. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Lenoir 
and  the  Hugon  engines  were  practically 
double-acting,  there  being  two  explo- 
sions for  every  revolution  ;  the  Bray- 
ton  engine  is  single-acting,  there  being 
one  ignition  of  a  charge  for  every  revo- 
lution ;  the  Otto  engine,  however,  is 
what  may  be  termed  only  half  single- 
acting,  there  being  one  explosion  for 
every  two  revolutions  of  the  engine. 

The  first  of  several  designs  of  the 
engine,  and  one  which  is  still  looked 
upon  as  the  standard  form,  has  a  single 
horizontal,  open-ended  cylinder.  In 
this  works  a  long  trunk  piston  the 
front  end  of  which  serves  as  a  guide. 
The  cylinder  is  appreciably  longer  than 
the  piston  stroke,  so  that  the  piston, 
when  full  in,  leaves  a  considerable  space 
at  the  end  of  the  cylinder  into  which  it 
does  not  enter  and  which  forms  a  com- 
pression chamber.  Across  the  back  end 
of  the  cylinder  works  a  slide  valve,  con- 
troll,ing  the  admission  and  explosion  of 
the  charge,  and  held  in  place  by  a  cover 
plate  and  strong,  spiral  springs.  The 
valve  is  worked  back  and  forth  by  a 
small  crank  on  the  end  of  a  shaft  parallel 
to  the  cylinder  axis,  and  rotating  at  half 
the  speed  of  the  main  crank  shaft  from 
which  it  receives  its  motion  by  bevel 
gearing.  An  exhaust  valve  and  govern- 
ing gear  are  also  worked  from  this  sec- 
ondary shaft. 

The  engine  cylinder  serves  alternately 


the  purposes  of  motor  and  pump.  Dur- 
ing the  first  forward  stroke  of  the  piston, 
the  admission  valve  is  in  such  position 
that  the  gas  and  air  mixture  streams 
into  the  cylinder  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  the  stroke  ;  the  return  stroke 
then  compresses  the  mixture  into  the 
space  at  the  back  end  of  the  cylinder. 
Meantime  the  slide  valve  has  moved  to 
another  position,  first  closing  the  admis- 
sion port  to  permit  the  compression 
of  the  charge,  and  then  exposing  a 
cavity  in  the  valve  in  which  there  is  a 
gas  flame  when  the  compression  stroke 
is  completed.  The  compressed  charge 
is  then  ignited  and  under  the  influence 
of  the  resulting  explosion  the  piston 
again  moves  forward.  This  constitutes 
the  motive  stroke.  At  the  end  of  it  the 
exhaust  valve  opens,  and  the  return 
stroke  drives  out  the  burnt  gases.  The 
piston  is  then  again  in  the  position  to 
take  in  a  new  charge  for  the  next  ex- 
plosion. The  cylinder  is  water  jack- 
eted. 

A  sectional  plan  of  the  original  Otto 
engine  is  given  in  Fig.  i.  In  this  A  is 
the  cylinder ;  B,  the  piston  ;  C,  the 
compression  chamber  ;  the  admission 
port  shown  extending  through  the  cyl- 
inder head  communicates  alternately 
with  the  gas  and  air  admission  port  E, 
and  the  flame  port  F,  both  of  which  are 
in  the  slide  valve  G.  The  latter,  as 
already  explained,  is  held  in  place  by 
the  cover)  in  which  is  carried  the  ignit- 
ing jet  R.  The  exhaust  valve,  which  is 
a  lift  valve  with  a  conical  seat,  is  at  K 
and  is  driven  by  the  geared  shaft  M 
through  a  cam  and  lever,  N  and  P. 
The  main  slide  valve  is  also  driven  from 
this  shaft  in  the  manner  clearly  shown 
in  the  illustration.  The  governor  with 
which  the  engine  is  provided  is  so 
arranged  that  when  the  speed  goes 
above  the  normal  rate  it  acts  on  a  cam 
controlling  the  main  gas  supply  valve 
and  prevents  its  opening  when  the 
piston  is  drawing  in  air.  To  start  the 
engine  the  igniting  jet  at  R  should  be 
lighted,  the  gas  supply  turned  on,  and 
a  few  turns  be  given  to  the  fly-wheel  by 
hand.  In  some  of  the  later  types  ol 
Otto  engine  the  admission  slide  valve  G 
is  replaced  by  a  poppet  valve  design, 


352 


CASSIER'S    MAGAZINE. 


Fig.  2  showing  one  of  the  modern 
styles  of  larger  size,  indicating  about 
sixty-five  horse-power.  In  this  later 
design,  the  igniting  jet  used  in  the 
earlier  form  of  engine  for  exploding  the 
gas  charge  has  also  given  way  to  what 
is  known  as  a  tube  igniter,  or  hot  tube. 
This,  as  its  name  implies,  is  simply  a 
wrought  iron  tube  of  small  diameter, 
closed  at  one  end.  The  open  end  is 
made  to  communicate  with  the  engine 
cylinder  by  the  valve  arrangement. 
The  tube  is  heated  by  a  Bunsen  gas 
flame  within  a  non-conducting  casing  to 
prevent  loss  of  heat,  and  the  explosive 
gas  mixture  from  the  cylinder,  entering 
the  heated  tube  under  pressure,  be- 
comes ignited.  This  method  of  ignition 
is  at  once  simple  and  effective.  The 
tube,  moreover,  is  inexpensive  and  can 
be  easily  renewed  when  necessary. 

The  almost  infinite  variety  of  uses  to 
which  the  engine  may  be  put,  and  for 
some  of  which  special  designs  are  turned 
out,  will  not  admit  detailing  here  and 
we  must  content  ourselves  with  the  few 
examples  shown.  Thus,  Fig.  3  shows 
a  modern  Otto  engine  applied  to  elec- 
tric lighting,  the  sizes  for  this  work 
ranging  from  fifty  to  100  horse-power. 
Fig.  4  shows  an  engine  and  pump  com- 
bination of  the  latest  design  in  which 
gear  wheels  for  driving  the  pump,  as 
first  used,  have  been  entirely  displaced 
by  belting  and  correspondingly  quiet 
running  has  been  secured.  Double- 
cylinder  and  vertical  Otto  engines  are 
also  on  the  market,  all  having  their 
legitimate  field  of  use. 

THE    OTTO    GASOLINE   ENGINE. 

The  poppet  valve  design  has  been 
adopted  also  in  the  Otto  gasoline  engine 
which  has  been  on  the  market  only  a 
few  years.  This  engine,  like  all  oil 
engines,  can  be  used  where  gas  is  not 
available,  an  advantage  which  has  much 
to  commend  it  and  which  in  a  measure 
explains  the  impulse  which  has  been 
given  to  the  oil  engine  industry  during 
the  past  few  years.  In  appearance  and 
action  the  Otto  gasoline  engine  is  prac- 
tically similar  to  the  Otto  gas  engine, 
embodying  as  it  does,  only  some  minor 
valve  modifications,  and  Fig.  2  may, 


therefore,   be  taken  to   represent   it  as 
well  as  its  gas  ally. 

In  this  engine  the  gasoline  is  supplied 
from  a  tank  which  may  be  located  out- 
side the  building,  through  a  galvanized 
iron  pipe  with  soldered  joints,  and 
provisions  are  made  against  any  possible 
leak  of  the  oil  between  engine  and  tank, 
or  after  it  has  reached  the  engine.  The 
gasoline  flows  to  the  admission  valve 
on  the  engine  cylinder  by  gravity, 
and  on  being  atomized  or  sprayed  with- 
in the  cylinder  by  a  current  of  air,  is 
at  once  fired  either  by  an  electric  spark 
or  by  a  tube  igniter.  Safety  con- 
siderations may  make  the  electric  igni- 
tion method  the  preferable  one,  and  this 
is  therefore  generally  used. 

While  the  gasoline  engine  can  be 
used  everywhere,  and  is  not  limited  to 
exclusive  use  outside  of  cities  because  of 
possible  gasoline  vapor  dangers,  still  the 
largest  number  of  these  engines  have 
been  placed  in  manufacturing  suburbs 
not  reached  by  city  gas,  and  in  the 
country.  Like  the  gas  engines,  they 
are  turned  out  in  various  designs  for 
various  kinds  of  work,  and  gasoline 
mining  engines,  electric  light  engines, 
portable  engines  mounted  on  trucks, 
etc.,  are  now  not  uncommon. 

Messrs.  Schleicher,  Schumm  &  Co., 
of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  are  the  builders  of 
both  the  Otto  gas  and  the  gasoline 
engines  in  the  United  States,  the  sizes 
of  both  types  ranging  from  one-third 
horse-power  upward.  In  England  the 
Otto  engine  is  made  by  Messrs.  Cross- 
ley  Bros.,  of  Manchester,  to  whose  de- 
sign reference  will  be  made  in  a  future 


issue. 


THE    FIELDING    GAS    ENGINE. 


The  Fielding  engine  is  made  by  an 
English  firm,  Messrs.  Fielding  &  Platt, 
of  Gloucester,  the  accompanying  illus- 
trations, Figs.  5,  6  and  7,  showing  one 
recently  built  and  capable  of  indicating 
100  horse-power  at  a  speed  of  160  revo- 
lutions per  minute.  The  engine  works 
upon  what  has  become  generally  known 
as  the  Otto  cycle  referred  to  in  the  just- 
given  description  of  the  Otto  engine  as 
well  as  somewhat  earlier  in  this  article ; 
but  the  arrangement  of  the  valve  gear 
embodies  some  new  features.  Fig.  5 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


353 


gives  a  general  view  of  the  engine,  while 
Figs.  6  and  7  show  an  elevation  and  a 
plan  respectively. 

The  working  charge  is  admitted  and 
the  waste  products  exhausted  by  means 
of  a  simple  mitre-seated  valve,  through 
inlet  and  outlet  ports  controlled  by  the 
movements  of  a  piston  valve  which  re- 
ceives independent  motion  from  an 
eccentric,  which  also  operates  the  timed 
ignition  valve.  The  valves  are  placed 


The  importance  of  a  starting  gear  for 
engines  of  such  large  size  which  cannot 
easily  be  turned  over  by  hand  is  at  once 
apparent,  and  due  account  has  been 
taken  of  it  in  this  engine  by  the  pro- 
vision of  a  new  form  of  such  gear 
patented  by  Mr.  Fielding.  This  gear 
comprises  a  small  reservoir  of  about  the 
size  of  the  cylinder  jacket,  which,  after 
the  engine  has  once  been  started,  is 
charged  with  compressed  air  at  a  press- 


FIG.  II. — THE  GRIFFIN  OIL  ENGINE,   CONSTRUCTED   BY  MESSRS.   GRIFFIN  &  CO.,  BATH,   ENGLAND. 


horizontally  by  the  side  of  the  cylinder, 
an  arrangement  which  permits  of  very 
straight  and  direct  pipe  connections  for 
gas  and  exhaust,  the  air  being  drawn 
through  the  cylinder  base,  which  acts 
as  a  muffle.  The  main  mitre- valve  is 
worked  from  a  cam  by  a  rod  leading 
direct  to  the  valve.  The  governor  is  of 
the  high-speed,  ball  type  acting  upon  a 
hit-and-miss  gear  interposed  between 
the  gas  valve  and  its  cam. 


ure  of  about  fifty  pounds  per  square  inch 
by  the  engine  itself  when  being  stopped, 
thus  utilizing  the  power  stored  up  in  the 
fly-wheels  for  use  when  re-starting  the 
engine.  The  action  of  starting  is  as 
follows  :  The  engine  crank  being  placed 
slightly  in  advance  of  the  dead  centre 
nearest  to  the  cylinder,  gas  is  admitted 
by  a  small  cock  to  the  combustion 
chamber,  from  which  the  air  is  allowed 
to  escape  at  a  small  pipe  provided  with 


354 


CASSIER'S   MAGAZINE. 


a  stop-cock  and  terminating  in  a  jet  near 
the  top  of  the  tube  igniter. 

When  the  air  has  been  driven  out 
and  the  gas  begins  to  escape  at  the  jet, 
it  becomes  ignited,  and  as  soon  as  it 
burns  with  a  steady  flame,  showing  that 
an  ample  supply  of  gas  is  present  in  the 
cylinder,  the  outlet  and  inlet  cocks  are 
closed.  Compressed  air  is  then  turned 
into  the  cylinder,  and  the  igniting  valve 
being  open,  as  soon  as  an  explosive 
mixture  is  formed  and  sufficient  pressure 
attained,  the  charge  is  ignited  by  the 
igniting  tube,  and  the  piston  is  driven 
forward  with  a  powerful  impulse,  the 
ordinary  cycle  at  once  coming  into 
operation.  This  method  of  starting  is 
claimed  by  the  builders  to  be  so  power- 
ful that  an  engine  can  be  started  with 
partial  load  on,  and  any  arrangement  of 
fast  and  loose  pulleys  or  friction  clutch 
is  thus  entirely  dispensed  with. 

THE    DAY    ENGINE. 

The  Day  engine,  shown  in  perspec- 
tive and  sectional  elevations  in  Figs.  8, 
9  and  10,  is  built  by  Messrs.  Llewellin 
&  James,  of  Bristol,  England,  and 
appears  to  have  been  designed  \vith 
special  reference  to  adaptability  to 
domestic  or  other  uses  where  the  ut- 
most simplicity  and  consequent  ease  of 
management  by  unskilled  attendants 
are  primary  considerations.  Few  mov- 
ing parts  and  an  entire  absence  of  what 
may  properly  be  considered  valve 
gearing  are  therefore  the  leading- 
features  of  this  engine.  What  moving 
parts  there  are  besides  the  piston  and 
fly-wheel  are,  moreover,  completely 
hidden  by  a  casing,  so  that  the  engine 
is  simple  in  appearance  as  well  as  in 
fact.  The  crank  chamber,  as  shown, 
is  closed  in  and  as  the  piston  A  rises  a 
partial  vacuum  is  formed  underneath, 
and  gas  and  air  in  proper  proportion 
are  drawn  in  through  the  passages  D. 
These  are  controlled  by  a  flap  valve  on 
the  inside  of  the  crank  casing,  and  when 
the  piston,  after  having  reached  the 
upper  end  of  its  stroke,  begins  to  de- 
scend, this  flap  valve  closes  the  gas  and 
air  inlets,  and  the  completion  of  the 
down-stroke  causes  a  slight  compres- 
sion of  the  explosive  mixture  in  the 


crank  chamber.  At  the  end  of  the  down- 
stroke  a  port  opening  at  the  side  of  the 
cylinder  is  uncovered  by  the  upper  end 
of  the  piston  and  through  this  the  explo- 
sive mixture  rushes  into  the  cylinder 
proper  above.  In  passing  into  the 
cylinder  the  gases  impinge  on  the  fin 
B  on  top  of  the  piston  and  are  thus 
deflected  upward,  displacing  the  prod- 
ucts of  combustion  of  the  previously 
exploded  charge,  which  pass  out 
through  the  exhaust  opening  K  (Fig. 
10).  The  cylinder  now  is  practically 
filled  with  an  explosive  mixture  at  at- 
mospheric pressure.  The  piston,  now 
again  rising,  cuts  off  both  the  supply 
and  exhaust  openings,  and  the  mixture 
in  the  cylinder  is  compressed.  When 
the  piston  reaches  the  upper  end  of  its 
stroke,  it  drives  the  gas  mixture  into 
an  ignition  tube,  F,  and  an  explosion 
results. 

It  will  be  understood  from  this  that 
there  is  one  explosion  for  every  double 
stroke  or  every  revolution.  A  water- 
jacket  keeps  the  cylinder  cool.  To 
start  the  engine,  which  obviously  is 
made  only  in  small  sizes,  it  is  simply 
necessary  to  give  a  few  turns  to  the  fly- 
wheel by  hand. 

THE    GRIFFIN    OIL    ENGINE. 

The  Griffin  oil  engine,  made  by 
Messrs.  Griffin  £  Co.,  of  Bath,  Eng- 
land, works  with  ordinary  petroleum, 
either  such  as  is  used  in  domestic 
lamps,  or  with  the  cheaper  and  heavier 
varieties.  This  engine,  too,  wrorks  on 
the  four-stroke  or  Otto  cycle. 

The  points  of  novelty  lie  principally 
in  the  vaporizer,  and  in  the  burner  for 
keeping  the  incandescent  firing  tube 
red  hot.  The  vaporizer  lies  athwart 
the  bed  under  the  cylinder.  It  is  a 
cast-iron  vessel,  surrounded  with  a 
passage  for  the  emission  of  hot  exhaust 
products  from  the  cylinder,  and  pro- 
vided internally  with  ribs  to  increase 
the  heating  surface.  The  oil  enters  it 
at  one  end,  that  shown  in  Fig.  n,  in 
the  form  of  fine  spray,  and  is  drawn 
out  through  the  curved  neck  at  the 
opposite  end,  Fig.  12,  into  the  cylin- 
der. In  their  passage  the  vesicles  of 
oil  become  converted  into  vapor  by  the 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


355 


FIG.  12. — THE   GRIFFIN   OIL   ENGINE. 


heat  of  the  walls,  and  shortly  before  the 
cylinder  is  reached  they  are  mixed  with 
additional  air  entering  through  the 
box  to  be  seen  below  the  bed.  This 
air  also  has  its  temperature  somewhat 
raised,  as  the  inlet  and  exhaust  pas- 
sages run  side  by  side  in  the  curved 
end  of  the  vaporizer  leading  to  the  cy- 
linder. The  spraying  of  the  oil  is 
effected  by  air  compressed  to  twelve 
pounds  on  the  square  inch  by  a  pump 
worked  off  the  side  shaft.  The  oil 
runs  by  gravity  out  of  a  reservoir  in 
the  bed,  and  is  emitted  through  a  fine 
tube  into  the  air  delivery  nozzle.  The 
blast  picks  it  up,  and,  driving  it  for- 
ward, atomizes  it  at  once.  The  flow  of 
oil  is  regulated  by  the  air  jet  itself; 
when  the  jet  is  cut  off  by  the  governor, 
the  oil  ceases  to  flow.  This  result  is 
attained  by  means  of  a  valve  on  the  oil 
pipe.  This  valve  closes  naturally  and 
is  only  opened  by  the  air  pressure  ; 
immediately  this  is  admitted  to  the 
pipe  the  valve  lifts  and  the  air  flows. 
The  heating  of  the  incandescent  tube 

3—17 


is  accomplished  simply  and  ingeniously. 
The  oil  trickles  into  a  tiny  box  and 
flows  over  a  weir,  which  keeps  it  at  a 
constant  height.  Two  little  wire  pins 
stand  in  the  oil  at  such  a  distance  apart 
that  the  liquid  creeps  up  between 
them  by  capillary  attraction.  On  to 
the  head  of  the  column  so  raised,  there 
impinges  a  fine  air  blast,  which  sprays 
the  oil  and  carries  it  forward  through  a 
pipe  to  a  Bunsen  burner  playing  on 
the  ignition  tube.  The  pipe  rapidly 
becomes  heated  by  conduction  from 
the  burner  and  effects  the  vaporization 
of  the  oil,  which  burns  like  a  gas  jet, 
without  odor. 

The  governor  is  of  the  centrifugal 
type  and  controls  a  hit-and-miss  device. 
From  this  there  is  worked  the  admis- 
sion valve,  the  exhaust  valve,  and  the 
air  inlet  to  the  vaporizer,  all  being 
thrown  in  and  out  of  action  simulta- 
neously. It  is  claimed  as  a  feature  of 
importance  in  the  engine  that  all  the 
valves  are  at  rest  when  running  light 
and  operate  only  in  direct  proportion 


356 


CASSIER'S    MAGAZINE. 


to  the   work  being  done,    thus   saving 
wear  and  tear. 

The  vaporizer  needs  to  be  heated 
before  the  engine  is  started.  A  hand 
lever  is  supplied  by  which  the  air- 
pump  is  worked  for  ten  minutes.  The 
air  is  used  to  spray  the  oil,  as  if  the 
engine  were  at  work,  but  the  jet  is 
ignited  as  it  enters  the  vaporizer 
and  fills  the  latter  with  a  powerful 


flame.  A  door  is  opened  at  the 
further  end  of  the  vaporizer  and  a 
temporary  deflector  fixed  on  to  di- 
rect the  flame  under  the  passage  lead- 
ing to  the  cylinder.  Ten  minutes 
suffice  to  raise  the  temperature  to  the 
required  extent.  Up  to  the  present 
time  only  small  sizes  of  the  engine 
have  been  built,  but  larger  designs  are 
under  way. 


(  To  be  continued. ) 


THE  UNITED  STATES  PATENT  OFFICE. 


By  R.  D.   O.  Smith. 


1HAVE  just  read  with  interest  Mr. 
Leon   Mead's   "Influence   of  Pat- 
ents on  American  Industries,"  and 
regret  that  his  examination  should  have 
been  so  brief.      The  cornerstone  of  our 
national  prosperity  is  worthy  of  more 
exhaustive  treatment. 

In  his  first  paper  there  are  one  or 
two  errors  which,  while  not  momentous, 
still  ought  to  be  corrected.  On  page 
117  he  says:  In  the  year  1812  the 
Patent  Office  was  removed  to  a  build- 
ing purchased  and  repaired  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  general  post- 
office,  and  that  said  building  stood  on 
the  site  of  the  present  post-office  de- 
partment building.  Washington  was 
captured  by  the  British  in  1814,  con- 
sequently the  episode  and  removal 
mentioned  are  placed  at  a  date  too 
early. 

The  building  to  which  the  Patent 
Office  was  removed  was  located  where 
the  so-called  city  hall  now  stands  in 
Judiciary  Square  and  not  on  the  site 
of  the  present  general  post-office. 
When  I  went  first  to  Washington  in 
1857  the  city  post-office  wras  in  a 
rickety  old  building  on  Seventh  street, 
on  ground  now  occupied  by  the  general 
post-office.  It  had  been  standing  there 
many  more  than  twenty  years. 

There  was  saved  from  the  fire  of 
1836  out  of  the  records  of  the  Patent 


Office  but  a  single  drawing.  Patentees 
were  invited  to  return  their  letters 
patent  to  the  commissioner,  who  had 
the  specifications  copied  into  books  and 
the  drawings  copied  on  sheets  for  the 
draftsman's  room.  Many  of  these  re- 
produced drawings  are  models  of  artis- 
tic excellence. 

But  many  patentees  neglected  to 
have  their  patents  re-recorded.  In 
fact,  I  presume  but  few  except  those 
whose  patents  were  still  young,  or 
which  had  proved  to  be  remunerative, 
responded.  A  great  many  who  did 
respond  also  filed  duplicate  models. 

At  the  fire  of  1877  but  few,  if  any, 
models  of  pending  cases  were  lost,  since 
models  of  pending  cases  are  kept  in  the 
secret  archives  of  the  office,  and  mostly 
in  the  examiner's  rooms.  The  fire  did 
not  extend  beyond  the  north  and  west 
model  rooms  on  the  upper  floor.  None 
of  the  examiners  had  rooms  on  that 
floor  at  that  time,  and  few,  if  any,  of 
the  paper  records  were  lost.  I  believe 
there  were  some  duplicate  copies  of  the 
printed  specifications  which  were 
burned,  but  none  of  the  original  records 
and  none  of  the  relics  or  other  me- 
mentoes which  were  then  preserved  in 
the  Patent  Office,  since  all  such  were 
kept  in  the  old  or  South  Hall.  The 
two  burned  model  halls  were  the  most 
spacious,  and  contained,  I  presume, 


MODERN  GAS  AND  OIL  ENGINES. 


By  Albert  Spies,  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  Mech.  Eng. 


i 


$econd 

HE  fact  has  already 
been  briefly 
noted  that 
not  a  few  of 
the  gas  en- 
gines now  on 
the  market 
are  adapted 
as  well  to  the 
use  of  gaso- 
line as  to  the 
use  of  gas 
proper,  and 
that  only  a 
f  e  w  slight 
modifications 
of  design  are  sometimes  necessary,  and 
are  provided  for  to  permit  changing 
from  one  fluid  to  the  other.  Such 
provision  is  made  in  the  case  of  the 
Otto  engine,  as  described  in  the  preced- 
ing paper,  and  also  in  that  of  the 
Caldwell-Charter  gas  engine,  built  by 
the  H.  W.  Caldwell  &  Son  Company, 
Chicago,  111.,  and  shown  in  perspective 
and  in  sectional  elevation,  respectively, 
in  Figs.  13  and  14.  In  both  these  views 
the  engine  is  represented  as  arranged 
for  the  use  of  gasoline.  In  Fig.  14  A 
is  the  working  cylinder  ;  B,  the  piston  ; 
<T,  the  inlet  valve  to  the  cylinder  ;  /?, 
the  mixing  chamber  ;  £,  a  gasoline 
pump  ;  F,  an  air-gate  worked  by  the 
rod  Jt  which,  in  turn,  is  operated  by 
the  governor  ;  K,  a  gasoline  supply 
regulating  valve  ;  H,  a  gasoline  tank  ; 
N IV,  pipe  from  gasoline  pump  to  a 
brass  pan  or  reservoir,  P ;  O,  a  supply 
pipe  from  gasoline  tank  to  pump  ;  Q, 
the  ignition  tube  ;  and  R,  the  chimney 
surrounding  it  ;  /  and  L  are  air  suc- 
tion pipes  taking  their  air  supply  from 
the  hollow  base  of  the  engine. 

The  pump  E  works  constantly  and 


keeps  the  gasoline  in  the  small  brass 
pan,  P,  which  holds  about  a  quarter 
pint,  at  a  level  fixed  by  an  overflow 
pipe,  which  returns  the  surplus  to  the 
supply  tank.  The  air-gate  /MS  a  brass 
plate,  having  two  holes  so  arranged 
that  in  normal  position  a  free  passage 
of  air  is  allowed  through  pipe  /  When 
the  governor  opens  the  air-gate,  the 
pipe  /is  closed  and  the  air  is  sucked 
through  pipe  L.  In  this  pipe  is  a 
nozzle  leading  to  the  pan  P,  and  the 
passing  air  draws  from  nozzle  the 
proper  amount  of  gasoline  and  forms  a 
combustible  mixture  of  gasoline  and 
air.  Each  suction  takes  fresh  gasoline 
from  the  reservoir,  always  the  same 
quantity  as  controlled  by  supply  or 
throttle-valve  K,  and  the  charges  of  gas 
are  therefore  of  equal  strength  and 
value.  The  ignition  tube  Q  is  kept  at 
a  uniform  heat  by  a  simple  gasoline 
burner,  furnished  with  engine.  This 
tube  is  surrounded  by  the  asbestos- 
lined  chimney  R  which  retains  the 
heat.  The  governor  is  arranged  on 
the  crank-shaft,  and  through  the  rod  J 
operates  the  air-gate  F  as  already  in- 
timated. The  exhaust  valve,  shown  at 
the  side  of  the  cylinder,  is  controlled 
by  a  spring  and  a  rod,  receiving  mo- 
tion from  the  larger  of  two  gear  wheels. 
This  gear  wheel,  as  will  be  understood, 
is  twice  as  large  as  the  smaller  driving 
pinion  on  the  main  shaft,  and,  there- 
fore, makes  only  half  as  many  revolu- 
tions as  the  latter,  thus,  of  course, 
opening  the  exhaust  valve  only  once  in 
every  two  revolutions  of  the  shaft.  The 
engine,  it  would  seem  almost  unneces- 
sary to  state,  works  on  the  Otto  cycle. 
A  water  jacket,  as  usual,  surrounds  the 
cylinder.  The  engine,  when  intended 
for  the  use  of  gas  instead  of  gasoline, 

427 


428 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


dispenses  with  the  gasoline  pump  and 
tank,  and  one  of  the  suction  pipes  is 
connected  with  a  gas  supply  pipe,  in 
which  a  gas  valve  is  located.  It  will  be 
seen,  therefore,  that  at  a  slight  expense 
the  gasoline  engine  can  be  changed  to 
a  gas  engine,  or  vice  versa. 

A  95  indicated  horse-power  Calcl- 
well-Charter  gasoline  engine,  develop- 
ing 65  actual  horse-power,  is  now  fur- 
nishing power  for  a  large  grain  elevator 
at  Camden,  N.  J.,  and  is  said  to  give 


cycle,  there  being  one  explosion  for 
every  two  revolutions,  but  the  compres- 
sion of  the  gas  and  air  mixture  is  ef- 
fected in  a  novel  manner,  which  con- 
stitutes the  chief  feature  of  the  engine. 
Figs.  15  and  16  represent  a  perspective 
view  and  sectional  elevation  respect- 
ively. The  admission  valve,  shown  on 
the  left  of  Fig.  16,  opens  into  a  special 
compression  chamber.  No  special  gas 
valve  is  used,  the  supply  being  ad- 
justed by  suitably  proportioning  the 


FIG.    13. — THE   CALDWELL-CHARTER   GAS   ENGINE.     BUILT   BY   THE    H.  W.    CALDWELL   &   SON   COMPANY, 

CHICAGO,  ILL. 


entire  satisfaction.  For  such  large 
engines  the  makers  supply  a  self- 
starter,  consisting  of  a  hand  pump  for 
forcing  a  charge  into  the  cylinder,  and 
a  detonator  for  exploding  the  charge 
after  it  has  been  introduced.  This 
gives  the  engine  its  first  impulse,  after 
which  it  continues  to  operate  with  its 
automatic  gear. 

The  Roots  engine  is  built  by  the 
Roots  r  Economic  Gas  Engine  Com- 
pany, London.  It  works  on  the  Otto 


gas  inlet.  To  make  the  manner  of 
working  clear,  we  will  assume  that  one 
working  cycle  has  just  been  completed. 
By  studying  the  sectional  view  it  will 
then  be  understood  that  on  the  next 
upward  stroke  of  the  piston,  or  on  the 
suction  stroke,  the  air  and  gas  are 
drawn  in  through  the  admission  or 
suction  valve,  which  opens  automatic- 
ally, and  displace  whatever  products  of 
combustion  may  be  in  the  compression 
chamber.  The  latter  is  thus  filled  with 


MODERN   GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


429 


a  rich  mixture  of  gas  and  air,  only  a 
small  proportion  of  which  enters  the 
working  cylinder  through  the  port  a. 
Thiscylinder,  therefore,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  first  down-stroke,  contains  a 
rather  dilute  mixture  of  fresh  gas,  air, 
and  burnt  gases,  which,  as  well  as  the 
rich  charge  in  the  compression  chamber, 
is  compressed  when  the  piston  descends. 
Before  the  piston  has  gone  down  very 
far,  however,  it  passes  over  the  port  #, 
cutting  off  communication  with  the 
compression  chamber,  and  during  the 
remainder  of  the  stroke  only  the  dilute 
mixture  in  the  cylinder  is  further  coin- 


pressure  begins  to  fall,  and  when  the 
port  a  to  the  compression  chamber  con- 
taining gas  at  a  low  pressure  begins  to 
open,  this  fall  is  accentuated,  but  very 
soon  the  fresh  charge  in  the  chamber 
is  fired,  and  the  pressure  line  rises 
again,  and  is  well  maintained  for  a  con- 
siderable proportion  of  the  stroke.  At 
the  end  of  the  working  stroke  the  ex- 
haust valve  is  opened  by  the  action  of  an 
eccentric. 

The  peculiar  system  of  compression 
is  claimed  by  the  makers  to  effect  a 
considerable  economy  of  working,  the 
degree  of  compression  in  the  special 


FIG.  14.— SECTIONAL   ELEVATION  OF  THE  CALDWELL-CHARTER  GAS  ENGINE. 


pressed.  At  the  end  of  the  stroke  this 
mixture  is  fired  by  a  tube  igniter  shown 
at  the  right.  The  pressure  rapidly 
rises  and  the  piston  commences  its 
working  stroke.  After  having  gone  a 
short  distance  it  uncovers  the  port  a 
leading  to  the  compression  chamber, 
and  the  rich  charge  there  is  further 
compressed  under  the  influence  of  the 
explosion  of  the  weak  charge,  and  is 
fired.  Just  how  this  manner  of  work- 
ing affects  the  diagram  is  shown  in  Fig. 
17,  which  is  a  sample  indicator  card. 
After  the  first  explosion,  it  is  seen,  the 


chamber  amounting  to  about  120 
pounds  per  square  inch.  This  is  con- 
siderably more  than  is  ordinarily  at- 
tained in  gas  engine  compression. 

A  novel  form  of  gas  engine  built  by 
the  Palatine  Engineering  Company  of 
Liverpool,  England,  is  shown  in  Figs. 
1 8,  19  and  20,  which  represent  vertical 
sections  and  an  elevation.  The  engine 
is  of  the  vertical  type,  and  the  crank  and 
connecting  rod  are  completely  cased  in. 
An  air  inlet  valve  admits  air  into  the 
enclosed  space  when  the  piston  de- 
scends. This  air  is  slightly  compressed 


430 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


on  the  up-stroke,  and  when  the  piston 
reaches  the  top  of  the  stroke,  a  quantity 
of  this  compressed  air  rushes  into  the 
cylinder  through  air  blow — through 
ports,  the  cylindrical  part  of  the  piston 
being  then  above  these  ports — see  Figs. 
1 8  and  19.  At  this  moment  the  ex- 
haust valve  is  opened  by  the  lever  /,, 


close  to  the  gas  admission.  The  gas  is 
taken  into  the  gas  pump,  Figs.  19  and 
20,  and  the  quantity  admitted  is  deter- 
mined by  the  governor  and  detent, 
Fig.  19,  which  control  the  admission  of 
the  gas  to  the  pump  by  means  of  the 
small  gas  valve. 

Ignition  of  the   charge  is  effected  by 


FIG.  15. — THE   ROOTS   GAS   ENGINE.      BUILT   BY   THE    ROOTS   ECONOMIC 
GAS   ENGINE   CO.,   LONDON,    ENG. 


Fig.  20,  which  is  operated  by  one  of 
the  cams  on  the  spindle  driven  by  the 
wheel  W.  The  cylinder  is  thus  com- 
pletely swept  out  by  a  charge  of  fresh 
air.  Referring  to  Fig.  18  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  air  suction  valve  is  placed 
in  the  space  below  the  cylinder  and 


a  tube  igniter,  /  T,  and  the  moment  at 
which  the  charge  is  permitted  to  enter 
the  tube  is  controlled  by  a  valve  /  V, 
worked  by  the  lever  /,,  Fig.  20.  The 
engine,  it  will  be  noted,  works  on  the 
Otto  cycle. 

The     Campbell    engine,      made    by 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


the  Campbell  Gas  Engine  Company, 
London,  shown  in  Fig.  21,  is  designed 
to  work  according  to  a  cycle  in  which 
there  is  an  explosion  at  each  revolution, 


rupted  only  by  a  simple  non-return 
valve.  The  compressing  action  of  the 
pump  on  the  back  stroke  is  so  timed 
that  the  mixture  attains  a  pressure  of 


FIG.    16. — SECTIONAL   ELEVATION    OF   THE 
ROOTS   ENGINE. 


an 


twice   as    many,    therefore,    as    in 
engine  working  on  the  Otto  cycle. 

This  effect  is  attained  by  taking  in 
the  charge  of  gas  and  air  by  means  of 
a  pump,  instead  of  by  the  action  of  the 
main  piston.  This  pump  is  driven  off 
a  crank-pin  in  the  side  of  the  flywheel, 


AIR  BLOW 
HROUGH  PORTS 


FIG.  18.— VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE  PALATINE  GAa 
ENGINE.  BUILT  BY  THE  PALATINE  ENGINEERING- 
CO.,  LIVERPOOL,  ENG. 


FIG.   I?.— INDICATOR   CARD   FROM   ROOTS   ENGINE. 


GAS  SUCTION 
TO  PUMP 


FIG.  19.— FRONT   SECTIONAL   ELEVATION   OF 
THE  PALATINE  ENGINE. 


and  draws  in  gas  and  air  through  ports, 
controlled  by  a  slide  valve.  There  is 
a  straight  connection  between  the 
pump  and  the  working  cylinder,  inter- 


from  six  to  ten  pounds,  just  as  the 
main  piston  passes  an  exhaust  port  in 
the  side  of  the  cylinder,  and  allows  the 
expanded,  acting  charge  to  escape.  The 


432 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


new  charge  then  lifts  the  valve  and 
enters  the  cylinder,  driving  the  remain- 
ing products  of  combustion  before  it 
through  the  exhaust  valve.  On  the 
return  stroke  of  the  main  piston  the 
charge  is  compressed,  and  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  next  stroke  it  is 
fired  by  a  tube  igniter. 

The  slide  valve  by  which  the  admis- 
sion of  gas  and  air  to  the  pump  is  con- 
trolled, is  driven  in  one  direction  by  an 
eccentric  and  in  the  opposite  direction 
by  a  spring.  The  connection  with  the 
eccentric  is  not  positive,  but  between 
the  eccentric  rod  and  the  valve  is  in- 
terposed a  hit-and-miss  motion  under 


FIG.  20. — SIDE    ELEVATION    OF    THE 
PALATINE    ENGINE. 


the  control  of  a  governor.  When  the 
speed  of  the  engine  becomes  too  high, 
the  ^governor  raises  the  hit-and-miss 
device,  and  the  valve  is  either  not 
opened  at  all,  or  is  opened  only  slight- 
ly, depending  upon  the  position  of  the 
stepped  piece,  shown  in  Fig.  22. 
When  the  engine  is  permanently  on 
light  work,  the  amount  of  the  gas  and 
air  charge  can  be  reduced  by  setting 
the  eccentric  further  around,  ?nd  the 
strength  of  the  charge  can  be  gradu- 
ated by  means  of  a  cock  on  the  inlet 
pipe. 

The  several  indicator  cards,  Fig.  23, 


clearly  show  the  effect  of  igniting  gas 
mixtures  of  varying  quantity  in  the 
engine.  So  far  as  structural  features 
are  concerned,  it  will  be  noticed  from 
the  perspective  view  of  the  engine  that 
the  cvlinder  does  not  overhang-,  as  in 


GAS  AND  AIR  VALVE 


STEPPED  PIECE 

PUSHER  FROM  ECCENTRIC  ROD 


TOT 


FIG.  22. — GOVERNOR  DETAIL  OF  THE 
CAMPBELL  ENGINE. 


most  gas  engines,  and  the  cylinder 
jacket,  engine  bed  and  crank  bearings 
are  all  cast  together  in  one  solid  piece. 

In  the  Foos  engine,  either  gas  or 
gasoline  may  be  used  indiscriminately, 
the  design  being  the  same  in  both 
cases,  the  use  of  gasoline,  however, 
of  course  necessitating  the  addition  of 
a  gasoline  tank  or  carburetor  to  the 
outfit  as  shown  in  the  general  view,  Fig 
24.  The  engine  is  designed  to  work 
on  the  Otto  cycle,  there  being  ordinarily 
one  explosion  in  the  cylinder  at  every 
second  revolution,  or  fourth  stroke. 

We  will  assume,  by  wray  of  explana- 
tion, that  the  piston  is  making  the  first 
stroke  of  a  cycle,  or  that,  in  other 
words,  it  is  descending  and  sucking  in 


FIG.  23. — CAMPBELL    ENGINE   INDICATOR   CARDS. 

the  explosive  charge.  The  gas  then 
goes  to  the  engine  through  the  valve 
O,  and  mixes  with  air  coming  through 
the  branch  pipe  and  valve  N.  The 
gas  and  air  mixture  passes  on  through 
the  governor  valve  M,  ascends  in  the 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


433 


vertical  pipe  shown  at  the  left  of  the 
engine,  passes  through  the  check  valve 
/*,  and  enters  the  exploding  chamber 
B  through  a  lift  valve,  which  ordinarily 
is  kept  down  on  its  seat  by  a  spring, 
C  but  which  opens  automatically  under 
the  influence  of  the  partial  vacuum 
formed  in  the  engine  cylinder  during 
the  suction  stroke.  When  gasoline  is 
used  instead  of  gas,  air  is  drawn 
through  the  gasoline  tank  or  carbu- 
retor, entering  at  £/,  and  in  its  pas- 
sage it  absorbs  sufficient  gasoline 


the  engine  as  just  described.  The 
engine  cylinder  and  chamber  B  having 
been  filled  with  the  explosive  mixture, 
the  piston  performs  its  upward  or  com- 
pressing stroke,  during  which  the 
charge  is  compressed.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  next  down-stroke  ignition 
of  the  charge  is  effected  in  the  explod- 
ing chamber  B  by  an  electric  spark, 
caused  by  the  contact  and  immediately 
following  separation  of  the  inner  ends 
of  the  two  electrodes,  D  and  E.  The 
arrangement  of  these  will  be  better 


FIG.  25. — IGNITING    ELECTRODES    OF  THE    FOOS   ENGINE. 


vapor  to  make  it  ignitable.  Warm  air 
is  used  to  absorb  the  gasoline,  being- 
led  to  the  tank  pipe  U  through  the 
rubber  hose  shown  in  dotted  lines. 
This  hose  is  connected  to  a  small  drum, 
yon  the  exhaust  pipe  A.  The  drum  is 
perforated  so  as  to  admit  air  which,  in 
passing  around  the  exhaust  pipe  is 
warmed.  The  gasoline  vapor  coming 
from  the  carburetor  passes  through 
the  check  valve  at  R,  at  the  out- 
let end  of  the  tank,  and  then  on  to 


understood  from  Fig.  25.  When  the 
two  ends  X  and  Y  are  brought  to- 
gether, as  shown  in  this  illustration, 
the  electric  current  from  the  battery 
provided  with  the  engine  is  closed,  and 
when  they  are  then  quickly  separated, 
a  spark  is  produced,  and  the  gas  or 
vapor  charged  is  exploded. 

The  connection  and  separation  of 
the  points  of  the  electrodes  is  caused 
by  the  revolving  motion  of  electrode 
E,  Fig.  24,  the  end  of  which  is  made 


434 


GASSIER' S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.  24. — THE  FOOS   ENGINE.      BUILT   BY   THE   FOOS   GAS   ENGINE   CO.,  SPRINGFIELD,  OHIO. 


in  the  shape  of  a  half  circle  as  shown  at 
X  in  Fig.  25,  bringing  the  points  J^and 
Y  together  at  every  revolution  of  elec- 
trode E.  Electrode  D  is  made  to 
screw  further  in  so  that  when  the  in- 
side end  Kis  worn  off  it  can  still  be 
kept  in  contact  with  electrode  E  at  X. 
Care  must  be  taken  not  to  screw  it  in 
so  far  but  that  there  will  be  a 
separation  of  an  eighth  of  an  inch 
between  the  points  of  the  two  elec- 
trodes at  every  revolution  of  electrode 
E.  The  latter  is  worked  from  the  main 
shaft  through  the  intervention  of  two 
gear  wheels  and  the  rod/,  the  second- 
ary gear  wheel  K  being  twice  the  size 
of  the  one  mounted  on  the  driving- 
shaft,  and,  hence,  making  only  half  as 
many  revolutions.  It  follows,  there- 
fore, that  the  electrode  end  X  (Fig. 
25),  will  revolve  once  for  every  two 
revolutions  of  the  engine  shaft,  and, 


accordingly,  will  produce  an  igniting 
spark  once  for  every  two  such  revolu- 
tions. 

The  explosion  having  taken  place 
the  piston  is  forced  down,  making  its 
working  stroke,  and  on  the  next  up- 
stroke the  products  of  combustion  are 
expelled  from  the  cylinder  through  the 
exhaust  valve  and  pipe  A  at  the  back 
of  the  cylinder.  The  exhaust  valve, 
which  is  of  the  lift  type,  is  worked  by 
a  cam  on  the  spindle  of  the  gear  wheel 
K,  and  by  a  rock-shaft  connection. 
This  valve,  which  is  fitted  with  a 
spring  to  bring  it  firmly  back  to  its 
seat  after  having  been  opened,  and  the 
governor  valve  M  are  the  only  valves 
in  the  engine  which  receive  positive 
motion  from  the  engine  shaft. 

The  governor  is  of  the  centrifugal 
type,  and  is  mounted  on  the  crank 
shaft.  Its  revolving  weights  are  shown 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


435 


FIG.  21. — THE   CAMPBELL   GAS   ENGINE.        BUILT   BY    THE   CAMPBELL   GAS   ENGINE   CO.,  LONDON,  ENG. 


at  L  L.  These,  it  will  be  noted,  re- 
volve in  the  same  plane  as  the  fly-wheel, 
and,  when  the  normal  speed  is  ex- 
ceeded, fly  outward  and  move  a  lever 
controlling  the  position  of  the  valve  M, 
and  cutting  off  or  reducing  the  supply 
of  explosive  mixture. 

The  engine  has  the  usual  water 
jacket  to  prevent  over-heating  of  the 
cylinder.  In  Fig.  24  the  inlet  and  out- 
let pipes  for  this  jacket  are  marked  H 
and  //  G  is  a  stop-cock  for  the  escape 
of  compressed  gas,  and  is  to  be  opened 
when  starting  up  ;  T  is  an  oil  cup  con- 
nection ;  V  is  a  float  in  the  gasoline 
tank  to  indicate  the  level  of  the  fluid, 
W\s  the  feed  opening  for  tank. 

The  engine  is  built  by  the  Foos  Gas 


Engine  Company,  ofSpringfield,  Ohio, 
the  range  of  sizes  being  from  two  to 
ten  horse-power. 

The  Priestman  oil  engine  is  made 
both  in  the  United  States  and  England, 
Messrs.  Priestman  &•  Co.,  of  Phila- 
delphia, the  American  builders,  turning 
out  the  design  shown  in  Fig.  26,  while 
the  English  builders,  Messrs.  Priest- 
man Bros.,  of  London  and  Hull,  have 
for  their  latest  type  of  engine  the  one 
illustrated  in  Fig  27.  The  engine  uses 
for  fuel  common  petroleum  such  as  is 
burned  in  lamps,'  and  the  quality  best 
suited  to  this  purpose  is  just  what  is 
safest  in  common  use,  that  is,  the 
highest  proof  oil.  A  sprayed  jet  of 
this  oil  is  first  broken  up  by  compressed 

3— 18 


436 


GASSIER 'S  MAGAZINE. 


air  playing  on  it  in  a  special  nozzle, 
and  then  it  is  further  mixed  with  air, 
heated  and  vaporized  by  the  hot  prod- 
ucts of  combustion  from  the  exhaust 
which  are  led  around  a  vaporizer  or 
mixing  chamber  before  being  allowed 
to  escape.  This  might  be  called  a  re- 
generator. The  oil  vapor  thus  thor- 
oughly mixed  with  air  in  proper  pro- 
portions is  drawn  through  an  automatic 
suction  valve  into  the  engine  cylinder 
by  the  piston  in  its  forward  stroke.  On 
the  return  stroke  this  change  is  corn- 


it  would  be  burned  in  the  wick  of  an 
oil  lamp,  and  all  the  oil  is  so  burned, 
except  that  in  contact  with  the  com- 
paratively cool  surfaces  of  the  water- 
jacketed  cylinder.  Upon  these  cooler 
surfaces,  the  oil  not  burned  is  con- 
densed and  furnishes  the  means  of 
lubrication.  As  in  many  other  engines 
of  this  type,  there  is  in  the  Priestman 
engine  a  space  at  the  back  end  of  the 
cylinder  over  which  the  piston  does 
not  sweep  in  its  motion.  This  space, 
or  compression  chamber,  bears  a  fixed 


FIG.  26. — THE   AMERICAN   PRIESTMAN   PETROLEUM   KNGINE.      BUILT   BY   PRIESTMAN  &  CO.,  PHILADELPHIA. 


pressed  to  about  half  its  bulk,  and  on 
the  next  forward  stroke  it  is  ignited 
electrically  producing  the  working 
pressure.  At  the  end  of  this  working 
stroke,  as  it  may  be  called,  an  exhaust 
valve  opens  and  permits  escape  of  the 
products  of  combustion  during  the 
succeeding  return  stroke,  thus  comple- 
ting one  cycle  which,  it  will  be  ob- 
served, is  the  same  as  in  the  Otto 
engine,  and  to  which  frequent  reference 
has  already  been  made  as  the  Otto 
cycle.  The  oil  is  burned  precisely  as 


proportional  relation  to  the  whole  cu- 
bic contents  of  the  cylinder,  and  acts 
as  the  furnace  and  boiler  that  is  to 
operate  the  engine,  being,  in  fact,  the 
seat  of  power  of  the  machine. 

Fig.  27,  as  already  remarked,  shows 
the  latest  type  of  the  English  Priest- 
man engine.  This  differs  from  the 
earlier  English  design  in  that  the  vari- 
ous working  parts  have  been  made 
more  accessible,  and  at  the  same  time 
have  been  somewhat  simplified.  As 
the  illustration  shows,  the  hand  pump, 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


437 


FIG.  27. — THE    ENGLISH    PRIESTMAN   PETROLEUM    ENGINE.      BUILT   BY   PRIESTMAN   BROS.,    LONDON,    ENG. 


by  means  of  which  air  is  compressed  into 
the  oil  chamber  preparatory  to  starting 
the  engine,  is  now  fitted  on  an  exten- 
sion of  the  engine  frame  in  place  of  be- 
ing concealed  inside  this  framing,  as  in 
the  old  type.  The  air  pump  is  also 
now  arranged  to  be  driven  by  the  same 


a  minimum  of  trouble.  In  all  other 
points  the  engine  is  similar  to  the  old 
type,  the  action  of  which  has  already 
been  outlined. 

In  the  American  design,  shown  in 
Fig.  26,  the  idea  of  making  all  the 
parts  readily  accessible  has  been  still 


FIG.  28.— EXPLANATORY   DIAGRAM   OF   PRIESTMAN   ENGINE. 


eccentric-rod  as  that  which  operates  the 
gas  valve  and  firing  gear,  in  place  of 
being  driven  by  a  separate  rod  as  for- 
merly. The  wide  opening  in  the  frame 
permits  of  the  vaporizer  and  spray 
maker  being  got  at  in  case  of  need  with 


further  carried  out  ;  hence,  the  im- 
mediately striking  difference  of  appear- 
ance. All  the  main  features  of  the 
engine  are,  however,  practically  the 
same.  In  the  English  engine,  it  will 
be  noticed,  the  fly-wheel  is  placed  out- 


438 


GASSIER "S  MAGAZINE. 


side  of  the  bearings,  and  the  shock 
from  the  sudden  ignition  of  the  charge 
thus  comes  upon  the  crank.  With  the 
principle  adopted  in  the  American  de- 
sign, it  is  argued  that  the  two  fly- 
wheels which  are  used  instead  of  one, 
and  which  form  part  of  the  crank,  offer 
their  great  weight  to  the  blow  between 
the  bearings  and  present  a  mass  of 


veyed  to  the  atomizer  C,  where  the  oil 
is  met  by  a  current  of  air  and  broken 
up  into  atoms  and  sprayed  into  the 
mixer  D.  It  is  there  mixed  with 
the  proper  proportion  of  supplementary 
air  and  sufficiently  heated  by  the  ex- 
haust from  the  cylinder  passing  around 
this  chamber.  The  mixture  is  then 
drawn  by  suction  through  the  inlet 


m 


FIG.   29. — THE    PRIKSTMAN    DOUBLE    CYLINDER    MARINE    ENGINE. 


sufficient  inertia  to  neutralize  the  effect 
of  this  blow. 

The  diagram  shown  in  Fig.  28  more 
clearly  explains  the  operation  of  the 
engine.  In  this  illustration,  A  repre- 
sents an  oil  tank  filled  with  any  ordi- 
nary high  test  (usually  150  degrees 
test)  oil,  from  which  oil  under  air  press- 
ure is  forced  through  a  pipe  to  the 
three-way  cock,  B,  and  is  thence  con- 


valve  /into  the  cylinder  E  where  it  is 
compressed  by  the  piston  and  ignited 
by  an  electric  spark  passing  between 
the  points  of  the  ignition  plug  /%  the 
current  for  the  spark  being  supplied 
from  an  ordinary  battery  furnished  with 
the  engine.  The  governor  G  controls 
the  supply  of  oil  and  air  proportion- 
ately to  the  work  performed.  The- 
burnt  products  are  then  discharged 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


439 


through  the  exhaust  valve  //,  which  is 
actuated  by  a  cam.  The  inlet  valve  / 
is  directly  opposite  the  exhaust  valve. 
The  air  pump  j  is  used  to  maintain  a 
small  pressure  in  the  oil  tank  to  form 
the  spray.  K  is  the  water  jacket  out- 
let. 

The  engine  at  the  Philadelphia  works 
is  now  made  in  four  sizes,  ranging  from 
five  to  twenty  indicated  horse-power. 

One  of  the  various  applications  ol 
the  Priestman  engine  has  been  made  by 
the  English  builders  to  the  propulsion 
of  a  launch  which,  last  year,  was  run- 
ning on  the  river  Thames,  where  she 
aroused  considerable  interest.  The 


simple.     The  inlet  valves  on  top  of  the 
cylinders  act  automatically. 

The  engine  was  placed  amidships  and 
occupied  very  little  space  as  compared 
with  machinery  and  boiler  space  of  a 
steam  launch.  The  speed  of  revolution 
was  controlled  by  a  governor  which  cut 
off  a  part  of  the  charge  according  to 
the  amount  of  work  to  be  done,  and 
the  engine  was  slowed  down  when  re- 
quired by  depressing  the  governor 
spindle  by  hand.  The  normal  speed 
was  240  revolutions  per  minute,  giving 
the  boat  a  speed  of  about  nine  miles 
an  hour.  In  this  marine  type  of  engine 
the  motion  is  in  one  direction  only,  and 


FIG.   30.— PRIESTMAN    ENGINE   AND   PUMP   COMBINED. 


boat  was  thirty-six  feet  long  by  seven 
feet  three  inches  beam,  by  four  feet  six 
inches  deep.  A  ten  horse-power  engine 
of  the  marine  type,  illustrated  in  Fig. 
29,  was  used,  there  being  two  cylinders 
each  nine  inches  in  diameter  by  nine 
inches  stroke.  In  principle  the  engine 
was  the  same  as  the  regular  Priestman 
oil  engine,  the  oil  being  sprayed  by  a 
jet  of  compressed  air  and  afterward 
heated  in  a  vaporizer  kept  hot  by  the 
exhaust  gases.  The  ignition  also  was 
effected  electrically,  a  battery  being 
used  to  give  the  spark.  The  valve 
gear  in  the  engine,  as  shown,  is  very 


reversing  is  effected  by  means  of  a  fric- 
tion clutch  which  also  admits  of  running 
the  engine  detached  from  the  propeller. 
The  boat  was  easily  handled  and  the 
machinery  required  very  little  attention. 
About  forty  gallons  of  oil,  sufficient  for 
several  days'  running,  were  carried  in 
the  bow,  from  which  the  engines  drew 
their  supply. 

The  Kane  Electro-Vapor  engine, 
like  the  one  just  described,  is  also 
adapted  to  the  use  of  either  gas  or 
gasoline.  It  is  built  by  Messrs. 
Thomas  Kane  &  Co.,  Chicago,  111., 
and  is  shown  in  Fig.  31  as  ar- 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


44 i 


FIG.  31. — THE   KANE   ELECTRO- VAPOR    ENGINE.      BUILT   BY   THOS.    KANE   &  CO.,    CHICAGO,  ILL. 


ranged  for  the  use  of  gasoline.  The 
engine  works  on  the  Otto  cycle,  there 
being  one  working  stroke  in  every 
four.  The  gas  or  gasoline  vapor  goes 
to  the  engine  through  the  regulating 
valve  G,  and  mixes  with  a  suitable 
supply  of  air,  which  is  drawn  in  from 
the  hollow  bed  of  the  engine  through 
the  cock  B.  The  admission  valve 
through  which  the  mixture  finally 
enters  the  exploding  chamber  is  a  pop- 
pet valve,  operated  by  a  lever  on  the 
other  side  of  the  engine,  not  visible  in 
the  illustration,  and  controlled  by  a 
centrifugal  governor  through  a  hit-and- 
miss  device.  Having  passed  through 
this  admission  valve  during  the  first 
stroke  of  the  cycle,  the  mixture  is  com- 
pressed during  the  second  stroke,  and 
exploded  at  the  beginning  of  the  third 
stroke,  exhaust  of  the  burnt  gases,  as 
usual  in  this  class  of  engines,  taking 
place  during  the  fourth  stroke.  The 
exhaust  valve  chamber  is  marked  £, 
the  valve  itself  also  being  a  poppet 
valve  ordinarily  kept  closed  by  the 
spring  shown.  It  is  opened  at  the 
proper  exhaust  moment,  however,  by 
being  pushed  upward  by  the  end  of  a 
pivoted  lever,  which  receives  motion 
from  the  crank  shaft  F  through  the 
intervention  of  a  small  and  a  large 
gear  wheel,  in  much  the  same  man- 
ner as  that  followed  in  connection 
with  the  Caldwell-Charter  engine  de- 


scribed in  the  beginning  of  this  paper. 
The  explosive  charge  is  ignited  by 
an  electric  spark,  and  one  of  the  electric 
contact  points,  connected  with  one  pole 
of  a  battery,  is  carried  by  the  exhaust 
valve  operating  lever  just  mentioned. 
It  is  shown  at  C  and  is  pressed  against 
another  contact  piece  on  the  engine  bed 
at  the  end  of  every  down  stroke  of  the 
right  hand  end  of  this  valve  lever.  The 
other  pole  of  the  battery  is  connected 
by  a  wire  with  an  insulated  electrode 
in  the  exploding  chamber  at  the  end  ot 
the  engine  cylinder.  The  second  elec- 
trode is  in  the  shape  of  a  metallic  point 
carried  by  the  piston.  At  the  proper 


FIG.  32. — SECTION  OF  CARBURETOR  FOR 
GASOLINE  USE. 


moment  for  exploding  a  charge,  the 
contact  pieces  at  (Tare  pressing  against 
each  other,  and  the  electrode  on  the 
piston,  which  then  is  at  the  right  hand 
end  of  its  stroke,  is  just  breaking  con- 
tact with  the  insulated  electrode  in  the 


442 


CASSIER'S   MAGAZINE. 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


443 


FIG.  35.— KANE  ELECTRO-VAPOR  LAUNCH. 


exploding  chamber.  The  result  is  that 
a  spark  is  produced,  and  the  charge  is 
exploded.  The  contact  pieces  at  Care 
for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  elec- 
tric circuit  only  at  the  end  of  every 
fourth  stroke.  At  other  times  they  are 
separated  as  will  be  understood  from  the 
nature  of  the  connection  to  the  exhaust 
valve  lever.  The  cylinder  is  water- 
jacketted,  and  the  water  on  its  way 
from  the  jacket  passes  around  the 


exhaust  valve  chamber,  cooling  it  also, 
and  is  led  off  through  the  pipe  O. 

Fig.  32  represents  a  sectional  view  of 
the  carburetor  or  gasoline  tank  used 
when  the  engine  is  working  with  gaso- 
line. It  is  a  small  circular  tank  partly 
filled  with  gasoline  and  connected  with 
the  engine  by  a  pipe.  It  may  stand 
five  feet,  or,  for  that  matter,  fifty  feet 
away  from  the  engine.  Upon  starting 
the  engine,  a  current  of  cool  air  is  drawn 


444 


GASSIER 'S  MAGAZINE. 


through  suction  pipe  E,  and  passing 
around  through  the  circular  chamber 
XXX,  finally  arrives  at  the  gas  box  D  ; 
from  there  it  passes  directly  into  the 
engine  cylinder  through  the  connecting 
pipe.  During  its  passage  through  the 
carburetor,  the  air  absorbs  the  requisite 
amount  of  vapor  for  the  charge.  The 
carburetor  works  automatically  and 
requires  no  attention  other  than  that 
necessary  to  keep  it  supplied  with 
gasoline.  When  the  engine  works  with 
gas,  the  carburetor,  of  course,  is  not 
needed,  and  the  end  of  the  gas  intake 
pipe  carrying  the  valve  G  is  then  con- 
nected directly  with  a  gas  supply  pipe 
carrying  the  customary  gas-bag  to  give 
uniformity  of  pressure.  The  engine  is 
made  in  seven  sizes  ranging  from  one- 
half  actual  horse-power  up  to  ten. 
One  of  the  uses  to  which  this  engine 
when  using  gasoline  is  being  extensively 
applied  is  the  propulsion  of  small  boats, 
and  special  modifications  have,  accord- 
ingly, been  made  by  the  builders  to 
successfully  meet  the  requirements  in 
such  cases.  Thus  Fig.  35  gives  a 


general  view  of  one  of  the  marine 
engine  outfits.  The  engine,  as  there 
used,  is  fitted  up  with  two  fly-wheels 
and  a  reversing  gear.  The  latter  con- 
sists simply  of  a  friction  wheel  with 
rubber  rim  so  arranged  that  when 
thrown,  by  means  of  the  lever  shown, 
against  the  inner  side  of  either  one  or 
the  other  fly-wheel,  it  will,  ^together 
with  the  propeller  shaft,  revolve  either 
to  the  right  or  left  as  the  case  may  be, 
moving  the  boat  either  ahead  or  astern 
while  the  engine  runs  always  one  way, 
being  itself  not  reversible.  With  the 
friction  wheel  in  mid-position,  it  will  be 
at  a  standstill.  This  arrangement  pro- 
vides a  noiseless  reversing  gear  and 
one  which  will  respond  at  a  moment's- 
notice.  Fig.  34  represents  a  plan  and 
sections  of  a  launch  fitted  up  with  the 
engine,  while  Figs.  33  and  35  are  general 
views. 

Messrs.  Kane  &  Co.  build  also  a 
vertical  gas  engine,  and  a  special 
horizontal  gas  engine  and  pump  com- 
bination designed  for  supplying  water 
for  hotels,  residences,  etc. 


( To  be  continued. } 


MODERN  GAS  AND  OIL  ENGINES. 

By  Albert  Spies,  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  Mech.  Eng. 


uses  to  which  gas 
engines  are  especially 
adapted  have  been 
mentioned  in  a  previ- 
ous article;  one  of 
these  is  the  driving  of 
electric  light  machin- 
ery, especially  the 
dynamos  of  isolated 
lighting  plants,  where 
steam  engines  with  the 
necessarily  attendant  boiler 
equipment  are  often  undesir- 
able. Ease  of  management  and 
simplicity  of  power  installation 
in  such  plants  are  frequently  of 
the  utmost  importance  and,  coupled 
with  the  intermittent  character  of  the 
service  required,  make  the  gas  engine 
a  prime  mover  of  special  acceptability. 
One  of  the  several  later  types  of  gas 
engine  which  appear  to  have  found 
much  favor  for  such  electric  light  ser- 
vice is  the  White  &  Middleton  engine, 
built  by  the  White  &  Middleton  Gas 
Engine  Company  of  Baltimore,  Md., 
and  illustrated  in  Figs.  36  and  37,  the 
latter  representing  a  sectional  plan.  This 
engine  is  of  the  prevailing  two-cycle  or 
so-called  Otto  type,  to  which  repeated 
reference  has  already  been  made  in  con- 
nection with  many  of  the  engines  de- 
scribed in  the  previous  articles. 

The  piston  is  of  trie  trunk  pattern 
and  is  connected  to  the  crank  direct  by 
the  wrist-pin  and  connecting  rod  with- 
out an  intervening  cross-head.  The 
gas  and  air  are  mixed  in  the  chamber 
#,  and  the  mixture  is  drawn  through 
the  valve  b  into  the  engine  cylinder 
during  the  out-stroke  of  the  piston. 
During  the  return  stroke  the  mixture 
is  compressed  to  about  one-fourth  its 
original  volume,  and,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  second  out-stroke,  it  is  ignited  by 


uncovering  the  inlet  to  an  ignition  tube. 
The  ignition,  or  explosion,  of  the 
charge  drives  the  piston  forward.  At 
the  end  of  this  working  stroke,  as  it 
may  be  called,  the  piston  uncovers  the 
exhaust  port  f  and  the  larger  part  of 
the  products  of  combustion  escapes. 
The  portion  still  remaining  in  the 
cylinder,  except  that  filling  the  com- 
pression or  combustion  chamber  on 
the  left-hand  end,  is  expelled,  during 
the  following  return  stroke,  through 
the  valves  c  and  d.  This  completes  one 
working  cycle,  and  the  engine  is  then 
ready  to  take  in  a  new  charge  of  gas 
and  air  and  go  through  the  same  series 
of  operations. 

The  valves,  it  will  be  noticed,  are  all 
of  the  poppet  type.  The  valve  c  is 
worked  by  the  lever  g  pivoted  at  h. 
This  lever  receives  its  motion  from  the 
rod  i  and  the  latter,  in  turn,  is  operated 
by  the  slide  k.  A  cam  is  placed  on  the 
crank-shaft  at  /  and  works  with  a 
smaller  cam  which  imparts  motion  to  k. 
This  smaller  cam  is  under  the  control  of 
a  centrifugal  governor  and  a  spring,  be- 
ing thrown  out  of  gear  with  the  larger 
cam  whenever  the  speed  of  the  engine 
exceeds  the  normal  rate,  and  thus  fail- 
ing to  open  the  admission  valve  c  and 
the  gas  supply  valve  until  the  engine 
has  again  come  down  to  its  proper 
speed.  Ordinarily,  when  the  engine 
runs  under  a  full  load,  these  valves,  of 
course,  open  at  every  other  stroke. 
The  valve  c  always  opens  slightly  in 
advance  of  the  gas  supply  valve,  the 
latter  being  arranged  in  the  casing 
shown  at  the  side  of  the  cylinder  in  the 
perspective  view,  Fig  i.  In  Fig.  2  it  is 
not  shown.  A  small  valve  is  fitted  to 
the  opening  n,  and  is  opened  and  closed 
by  hand  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  the 
air  pressure  in  the  cylinder  on  starting 

25 


26 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE, 


the  engine.  It  will  be  observed  that, 
unlike  many  other  gas  engines,  the  one 
here  shown  has  no  gear  wheel  combina- 
tion for  reducing  the  speed  for  the  valve 
gear,  the  necessary  reduction  being 
effected  by  an  ingenious  arrangement  in 
the  slide  k.  The  governor  also  is  quite 


to  be  employed,  however,  the  gas  sup- 
ply valve  on  the  side  of  the  cylinder  is 
replaced  by  a  small  pump  worked 
also  by  the  rod  i.  No  outside  car- 
buretor is  employed,  but  the  pump 
discharges  at  every  other  stroke  of  the 
engine  piston,  or  less  frequently  as  de- 


FIG.   36.— ENGINE   BUILT   BY  THE   WHITE   &   MIDDLETON   GAS   ENGINE   CO.,    BALTIMORE,    MD. 


FIG.    37.— SECTIONAL   PLAN   OF   WHITE   &   MIDDLETON   ENGINE. 


inconspicuous,  and  the  whole  engine  is 
very  simple  in  appearance,  the  number 
of  working  parts  having  been  reduced 
to  a  minimum. 

The  engine,  like  many  of  those  al- 
ready described,  is  adapted  to  use  gaso- 
line as  well  as  gas.  Where  gasoline  is 


termined  by  the  position  of  the  governor, 
a  suitable  proportion  of  gasoline  into 
the  chamber  a  where  it  is  taken  up  and 
carried  along  by  the  air  into  the  cylinder 
through  the  self-acting  valve  b.  The 
engine  is  built  in  sizes  of  from  two 
to  thirty-two  indicated  horse-power, 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


though  arrangements  are  being  com- 
pleted to  turn  out  larger  sizes  for  which 
demands  have  been  made. 

The  gas  consumption  of  the  engine  is 
said  to  be  remarkably  small,  test  figures 
being  claimed  to  have  shown  a  con- 
sumption of  nineteen  cubic  feet  per 
brake  horse-power  per  hour,  in  an  en- 
gine developing  actually  5.98,  or  in 
round  numbers,  six  horse-power. 


The  combustion  or  power  chamber  is 
formed  partly  in  a  separate  hood,  as 
shown  in  the  vertical  section  Fig.  39, 
and  communicates  at  one  side  of  the 
latter  with  the  supply  valve  port.  The 
forward  end  of  the  power  cylinder  opens 
into  the  crank  casing  which  forms  a 
compression  supply  chamber,  the  piston 
being  the  compressor.  In  this  chamber 
work  the  connecting  rod  and  crank, 


FIG.    38.— THK   NASH    ENGINE,    BUILT   BY   THE   NATIONAL 
MKTER  CO.,   NEW  YORK. 


Another  one  of  the  later  designs  ot 
American  gas  engines,  known  as  the 
Nash  engine,  and  built  by  the  National 
Meter  Company,  New  York  city,  is 
shown  in  perspective  in  Fig.  38.  In 
this  engine  there  is  one  explosion  of  a 
gas  and  air  charge  at  every  revolution 
instead  of  at  every  second  revolution, 
and  the  engine  is  thus  practically  single- 
acting. 


and  into  it  the  combustible  mixture  of 
gas  and  air  is  drawn  during  the  up- 
ward stroke  of  the  piston  through  the 
mixing  valve,  shown  in  Fig.  40,  which 
is  placed  externally  as  represented  in 
Fig.  41.  This  valve  automatically 
regulates  the  relative  supply  of  gas  and 
air  to  the  cylinder.  Air  enters  through 
the  opening  at  the  bottom,  while  the 
flow  of  gas  is  regulated  by  the  valve/". 


28 


GASSIER  'S   MAGAZINE. 


In  the  interior  are  two  valve  ports  of 
unequal  area  controlled  by  the  double- 
seated  valve  i  which  regulates  the  flow 
of  gas  through  the  smaller  port,  and 
the  flow  of  air  through  the  larger  one. 
It  is  evident  that  the  relative  quantities 
of  air  and  gas  drawn  in  by  the  upward 
movement  of  the  piston  will  be  in 
accordance  with  the  size  of  the  air  and 
gas  openings.  The  valve  i  is  made  of 


the  piston  is  controlled  by  a  poppet 
valve  having  an  ample  seat.  The 
quantity  of  mixture  admitted  at  each 
stroke  is  controlled  by  the  valve  k, 
operated  by  the  governor.  After  igni- 
tion and  expansion,  the  products  of 
combustion  escape  through  the  circum- 
ferentially  arranged  exhaust  openings 
in  the  cylinder  walls,  which  are  shown  in 
both  the  sectional  views  and  which  are 


FIG.    39. — VKRTICAL   SECTION   OF   NASH   ENGINE. 


sufficient  weight  to  greatly  overbalance 
the  gas  pressure  so  that  any  slight 
variations  in  the  latter  will  not  materi- 
ally effect  the  proportions  of  the  parts 
of  the  mixture. 

From  the  supply  reservoir  the  mix- 
ture passes  upward  through  a  passage 
clearly  shown  in  Fig.  39.  Its  admis- 
sion to  the  combustion  chamber  above 


uncovered  by  the  piston  at  the  end  of 
its  down-stroke. 

The  igniter  b,  Fig.  39,  and  shown 
enlarged  in  Fig.  42,  is  based  upon  a 
new  principle.  The  igniting  jet  of  com- 
bustible mixture  is  caused  to  rotate  in  the 
circular  chamber  r,  into  which  it  enters 
through  a  passage  tangentially  placed. 
This  forms  a  vortex  of  flame,  \vhich  is 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


29 


positive  in  its  action  and  simple.  The 
valve  B  itself  is  made  of  steel,  and  is 
hardened  and  ground  to  size.  It  moves 
in  a  reamed  hole  in  the  case,  being  so 
loosely  fitted  as  to  drop  of  its  own 


FIG.   40.— NASH   MIXING 
VALVE. 


weight,  and  yet  making  a  gas-tight 
joint.  Since  the  valve  is  pefectly 
balanced  as  to  gas  pressure  it  moves 
without  friction,  and  therefore  requires 
a  very  small  quantity  of  oil — just  suffi- 
cient to  prevent  it  becoming  dry.  The 
valve  is  made  long,  and  the  lower  part 
has  a  bearing  in  that  part  of  the  case 
kept  cool  by  a  water  jacket.  As  oil  is 
only  applied  to  the  lower  end,  very 
little  can  work  up  to  the  hot  end  where 
the  igniter  is  heated  ;  hence  the  forma- 
tion of  gummy  oil  is  prevented,  and 
the  valve  seldom  needs  cleaning.  In 
actual  use  it  has  been  found  that  the 
case  and  upper  end  of  the  valve  never 
come  into  metallic  contact,  as,  on  ac- 
count of  the  looseness  of  fit  at  that 
point,  a  scale  of  hard  carbon  is  formed 
over  the  surface  of  each,  which  protects 
them  from  abrasion.  The  valve  is 
positively  operated  by  an  eccentric  on 
the  shaft. 

As  already  stated,  the  engine  ignites 
each  charge  at  each  revolution,  and  the 
amount  of  the  charge  is  controlled  at 
each  stroke  by  the  governor,  so  that 
the  regulation  is  as  close  as  for  a  steam 
engine.  An  examination  of  a  card 
taken  from  this  engine  shows  a  remark- 
able resemblance  to  the  card  of  a  steam 
engine.  The  pressure  at  the  beginning 
of  the  stroke  is  moderate,  and  the  line 
of  the  expansion  is  well  sustained 
throughout  the  entire  stroke.  The  fly- 
wheel is  stationed  between  two  bearings 


formed  in  the  single  base  casting  ;  hence 
the  alignment  of  the  shaft  is  always  true. 
The  working  parts  are  enclosed  and 
protected  from  dust,  and  at  the  same 
time  they  are  readily  accessible  by 
hinged  covers. 

The  engine  is  made  in  sizes  of  from 
one-third  actual  horse-power  up  to  four 
horse-power,  and,  like  all  others  of  its 
class,  is  adapted  to  a  wide  variety  of 
work.  A  special  engine  and  pump 
combination,  put  on  the  market  by  the 
makers,  has  met  with  much  favor  and 
is  widely  used.  Gasoline  can  be  used 
with  the  engine  as  well  as  gas,  but  in 
that  case,  of  course,  some  kind  of  car- 
buretting  device  must  be  employed 
which  forms  an  independent  adjunct. 

The  Backus  engine,  made  by  the 
Backus  Water  Mfg.  Company,  of  New- 
ark, N.  J.,  is  shown  in  Figs.  43  and 


FIG.  41.— VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  NASH  ENGINE. 


44.  It  is  a  vertical  engine,  made 
for  small  powers,  and,  like  several  al- 
ready described,  works  according  to  the 
Otto  cycle,  there  being  one  explosion  in 
every  two  revolutions.  Fig.  44,  which 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.   42. — IGNITER   OF   NASH    ENGINE. 

represents  a  vertical  section  of  the 
cylinder  and  valve  mechanism,  will  help 
to  clearly  explain  the  functions  of  the 
several  parts.  The  gas,  coming  through 
a  special  gas  regulating  valve,  shown  at 
the  left  in  Fig.  43,  enters  at  a,  and, 
mixing  with  air,  enters  the  engine 
cylinder  through  the  admission  valve  b. 
This  valve  is  ordinarily  held  down  on 
its  seat  by  a  helical  spring,  not  shown 
in  the  illustration,  but  lifts  during  the 
upward  suction  stroke  of  the  piston, 
opening  communication  between  a  and 
the  cylinder.  Above  the  valve  b  is  the 
exhaust  valve  d,  which  also  is  held  to  its 
seat  by  a  helical  spring,  except  when 
opened  by  the  action  of  the  exhaust 
valve  rod  which  is  operated  by  a  gear 
wheel  running  at  half  the  speed  of  the 
crank  shaft.  The  exhaust  pipe  is  in- 
dicated by  the  dotted  circle  above  the 
valve  d. 

When  the  piston  makes  its  first  up- 
stroke, the  valve  b  opens  and  the  ex- 
plosive charge  is  drawn  into  the 
cylinder,  the  exhaust  valve  d  being 
closed.  On  the  following  down-stroke 
compression  takes  place,  both  valves  b 
and  d  being  closed.  At  the  end  of  this 


stroke  the  charge  is  in  such  a  state 
of  compression  that  it  becomes  ig- 
nited through  that  portion  of  it  which 
has  entered  the  incandescent  ig- 
nition tube  c.  The  piston  is  then 
forced  up,  doing  useful  work,  and 
during  the  next  down-stroke  or  ex- 
haust stroke,  the  valve  d  is  open 
and  the  waste  gases '  escape.  The 
engine,  after  this,  is  again  ready  to 
recommence  the  same  cycle. 

The  governor,  which  is  of  the  cen- 
trifugal type,  is  arranged  in  the  belt 
pulley  shown  at  the  upper  left-hand 
corner  of  Fig.  43.  As  the  revolving 
weights  of  the  governor  move  out- 
ward under  the  influence  of  centrifu- 
gal force  they  move  the  upper  end 
of  a  centrally  pivoted  lever,  shown 
in  the  perspective  view.  The  lower 
end  of  this  lever  is  attached  to  the 
gas  valve,  which  is  thus  opened  or 
closed  more  or  less,  depending  upon 
the  engine  speed  and  the  correspond- 
ing position  of  the  governor  weights. 
At  the  lower  end  of  the  lever 
there  is  also  a  knurled  collar,  by 
turning  which  the  connection  between 


FIG    44.— VERTICAL   SECTION   OF  THE 
BACKUS   ENGINE. 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


FIG.  43.— THE  BACKUS   ENGINE,   BUILT  BY  THE  BACKUS 
MANUFACTURING  CO.,   NEWARK,   N.   J. 


the  lever  and  valve  can  be  either 
shortened  or  lengthened,  and  the  speed 
of  the  engine  can  thus  be  changed 
while  the  engine  is  in  motion.  The 


engine  cylinder  is  provided  with  the 
customary  water  jacket  to  prevent  over- 
heating. The  sizes  of  the  engine  range 
from  one-half  to  three  horse-power. 


(To  be  continued.} 


MACHINERY   HALL,    WORLD'S   COLUMBIAN    EXPOSITION. 

STEAM   ENGINES  AT  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR.— I. 


By  Geo.  L.   Clark. 


OF  all  the  great  structures  at  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition 
at  Chicago,  the  Administration 
Building,  while  not  the  largest,  is  one  of 
the  most  beautiful,  if  not  the  gem  of  the 
Exposition  palaces.  Machinery  Hall, 
however,  has  been  pronounced  second 
only  to  this  in  the  magnificence  of  its  ap- 
pearance. It  measures  846  by  492  feet, 
and,  with  the  Machinery  Annex  and 
Power  House,  cost  about  $1,250,000. 
These  several  structures  together  cover 
an  area  of  nearly  eighteen  acres.  The 
main  machinery  hall  is  spanned  by 
three  arched  trusses,  and  the  interior 
presents  much  of  the  appearance  of 
three  great  railroad  train  houses.  In 
each  of  the  long  naves  is  an  elevated 
traveling  crane,  running  from  end  to 
end  of  the  building  for  the  purpose  of 
moving  machinery.  During  the  time 
of  the  Exposition  it  is  intended  to  put 
platforms  on  these,  so  that  visitors  may 
be  carried  throughout  the  exhibition 
space  and  view  all  the  machinery. 

That  with  such  extensive  provisions 
for  the  exhibit  of  machinery  the  latter  will 
form  a  most  important  feature  of  the  Ex- 
position seems  almost  needless  to  say, 
and  that  steam  engines  will  be  of  the  first 
prominence  in  this  line  of  exhibits  will 
be  equally  well  appreciated.  Interest 
will  undoubtedly  be  centred  in  the 

32 


large  Corliss  engine,  one  of  magnifi- 
cent proportions,  built  by  the  E.  P. 
Allis  Company,  of  Milwaukee,  Wis. , 
and  suggestive  at  once  of  comparison 
with  the  famed  Corliss  engine  used  in 
Machinery  Hall  at  the  Philadelphia 
Centennial  Exhibition  in  1876,  which 
was  built  by  George  H.  Corliss.  The 
illustration  of  that  engine,  shown  on 
another  page,  will  give  the  reader 
some  idea  of  the  great  dissimilarity 
of  the  two.  This  Corliss  engine,  at 
the  time  one  of  the  finest  examples 
of  its  type  ever  constructed,  had  a 
pair  of  forty-inch  cylinders,  of  ten- 
foot  stroke,  and  while  its  full  power 
was  never  developed,  it  supplied 
something  like  1250  horse-power  while 
in  operation  at  the  Exhibition.  The 
length  of  the  beams,  between  cen- 
tres, was  twenty-five  feet,  the  diameter 
of  the  crank  shaft  was  nineteen  inches, 
and  the  diameter  of  the  fly-wheel  was 
nearly  thirty  feet.  The  revolutions  of 
the  Centennial  engine  per  minute 
amounted  to  thirty-six,  and  it  may  be 
of  interest  to  know  that  the  total  num- 
ber of  revolutions  made  during  the 
exhibition  was  2,355,300. 

The  duty  of  the  World's  Fair  engine 
will,  however,  be  of  a  different  nature 
from  that  of  the  Corliss  engine  at  the 
Centennial,  which  transmitted  its  poxver 


FAST   TRAINS    OF  ENGLAND   AND   AMERICA. 


cent,  of  the  through  passengers  from 
New  York  to  Chicago,  although  in 
elegance  and  comfort  there  is  little 
choice  between  its  limited  trains  and 
those  of  the  Pennsylvania.  Were  it 
not,  however,  for  the  passengers  who 
stop  off  at  intermediate  stations,  these 
through  fast  express  trains  would  be 
very  unprofitable  ventures. 

From  official  reports  it  is  found  that 
the  average  number  of  through  passen- 
gers on  all  trains  to  Chicago,  both  fast 
and  slow,  is  one  hundred  and  seventy 
daily.  Divided  up  between  the  twenty- 
six  through  westbound  trains  it  gives 
an  average  of  eight  each.  Of  the 
twenty-six  through  trains,  the  New 
York  Central  runs  eight.  This  new 
train,  however,  will  undoubtedly  carry 
as  many  through  passengers  as  it  can 
accommodate  between  the  World's  Fair 
city  and  New  York. 

Another  remarkably  fast  train  will  be 
that  of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  and 
Hartford  Railroad,  which  will  shortly 
be  put  on  and  which  will  make  the  run 
between  New  York  and  Boston  in  five 
hours.  The  train  will  run  by  way  of 
Providence,  and  will  be  the  fastest  ever 
run  in  New  England,  the  average  speed 
being  forty-eight  and  nine-tenths  miles 
an  hour,  including  three  stops  of  five 
minutes  each.  Trains  will  leave  New 
York  and  Boston  simultaneously,  at  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  reach 
their  destinations  at  three  in  the  after- 
noon, making  almost  as  good  time 
as  the  "Exposition  Flyer"  just  re- 
ferred to.  The  train  is  scheduled  to 

Leave  New  York     at  10.00  A.M. 

"      New  Haven  "  11.35    '       73.23  miles. 
New  London"  12.43    "    124.20      " 
Providence   '      2.06  P.M.  188.20     " 

Arrive  Boston  "    3.00    "     232.20      " 

West  of  Chicago  probably,  the  fast- 
est train  is  on  the  Chicago,  Burlington 
and  Quincy  road,  running  between 


Denver  and  Chicago.  Train  No.  6, 
eastbound  from  Denver,  makes  the  run 
in  twenty-nine  hours  and  forty-nine 
minutes,  the  distance  being  1025  miles. 
Train  No.  i,  leaving  Chicago  daily  for 
Denver,  makes  the  run  in  thirty  hours 
and  fifteen  minutes.  The  engines  haul- 
ing these  trains  are  of  the  eight-wheel 
American  type,  built  by  the  Rogers 
Locomotive  and  Machine  Works. 
They  belong  to  the  standard  class 
"M"  locomotives  of  the  road,  have 
eighteen  by  twenty-four-inch  cylinders, 
sixty-nine-inch  drivers,  and  weigh,  with 
tender,  ready  for  service,  174,000 
pounds.  The  total  weight  on  the 
drivers  is  65,500  pounds. 

Reviewing  all  the  facts  presented, 
it  appears  that,  notwithstanding  the 
great  variety  in  type  of  locomotives  and 
weights  of  trains,  the  running  time  be- 
tween various  terminals  both  in  Eng- 
land and  America,  whether  the  distance 
be  long  or  short,  does  not  much  ex- 
ceed fifty  miles  per  hour.  At  the  same 
time  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  a 
speed  of  sixty  to  sixty-five  miles  is 
made  by  many  roads  daily  for  part  of  a 
run,  and  as  high  as  80  to  100  miles 
for  a  short  stretch  on  a  particularly  good 
piece  of  roadbed  has  been  accomplished 
by  different  types  of  locomotives.  The 
superiority  of  any  particular  type 
among  those  illustrated  is  hard  to  de- 
termine, although  for  many  reasons 
the  locomotives  of  the  "800"  class, 
hauling  the  Empire  State  Express  on 
the  New  York  Central  road,  are  capable 
of  pulling  a  train  faster  for  a  long  dist- 
ance than  any  now  in  use. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  as  regards 
first-class  express  trains  those  in  the 
United  States  lead  in  point  of  spe'ed  over 
long  distances,  exceeding,  say  200  miles. 
For  shorter  runs,  however,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  100  miles,  the  English  re- 
gular trains  still  hold  the  supremacy. 


MODERN  GAS  AND  OIL  ENGINES. 


By  Albert  Spies,  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M.  E. 


AS  at  a  low  price,  much 
lower  than  that  at 
which  it  is  now  gener- 
ally sold  by  gas  com- 
panies, is  one  of  the 
desiderata  to  which 
gas  engine  builders 
and  users  alike  have 
been  looking  forward 
for  some  time.  It  is 
not  that  the  gas  en- 
gine, even  with  the 
current  prices  of  gas, 
is  by  any  means  un- 
duly expensive  in 
point  of  fuel,  but  it  is  manifest  that  with 
cheaper  gas  the  full  possibilites  of  mo- 
tors of  this  type  would  be  more  readily 
and  widely  appreciated,  and  could  be 
more  strikingly  emphasized  by  the  prob- 
ably greatly  increased  numbers  in  use. 
In  one  of  the  preceding  papers  a  few 
figures  were  given,  showing  what  was 
actually  accomplished  with  a  cheap 
heating  gas  in  the  line  of  reducing  the 
cost  of  power  in  a  gas  engine.  Unfor- 
tunately, however,  enterprises  of  the 
character  there  mentioned,  keeping  in 
view  the  manufacture  and  distribution 
for  general  consumption  of  low  cost  gas 
for  heating  purposes,  have  not  yet  been 
pushed  to  any  extent,  and  users  of  the 
larger  sizes  of  gas  engines,  developing 
about  forty  horse-power  and  more,  who 
have  been  impressed  with,  and  who  de- 
cided to  profit  by,  the  economies  of 
cheap  gas  utilization  have  been 
obliged  to  avail  themselves  of  special 
gas  producer  outfits  to  be  worked  in 
conjunction  with  their  engines,  just  as 
steam  boilers  ordinarily  are  operated  in 
connection  with  steam  engines. 

This  plan  of  putting   in  independent 
gas  producers  has    been  specially    de- 

144 


velopecl  in  England,  and  a  compar- 
atively large  number  of  such  gas  plants 
on  the  Dowson  system  have  been  built 
and  operated  with  the  most  satisfactory 
results.  The  outfits,  as  generally  used, 
consist  of  a  small  gas  holder  and  tank 
with  a  scrubber  placed  inside  the  tank. 
The  scrubber  is  filled  with  coke  or 
other  suitable  material,  and  the  gas,  as 
made,  is  passed  through  this  before  it 
reaches  the  holder.  A  regulator  on  the 
gas  producer  governs  the  production 
of  gas,  within  certain  limits,  by  the  rise 
or  fall  of  the  holder,  and  makes  large 
storage  capacity  unnecessary.  In  some 
of  the  outfits  an  escape  valve  has 
been  used  on  top  of  .the  holder  to  let 
off  gas  into  the  open  air  or  up  through 
a  waste  pipe  when  the  holder  is  full, 
and  when  the  make  of  gas  exceeds  the 
consumption.  This,  however,  has  not 
been  employed  to  any  great  extent, 
since  the  regulator  arrangement  satis- 
factorily provides  for  fluctuations  in 
consumption  and  avoids  the  waste  of 
fuel. 

The  gas  is  made  by  forcing  a  con- 
tinuous current  of  steam  and  air  through 
a  coal  fire  in  the  producer  proper,  or 
generator,  so  that  the  necessary  high 
temperature  of  the  fire  is  maintained 
while  a  constant  volume  of  steam  is  de- 
composed. The  oxygen  of  the  air  and 
steam  combines  with  the  carbon,  pro- 
ducing carbonic  oxide  which  is  rendered 
still  more  inflammable  by  the  hydrogen 
set  free  by  the  steam.  The  total  cost 
of  the  gas,  including  wages,  etc.,  and 
allowing  for  the  increased  volume  of 
the  gas  required  to  develop  the  same 
power  as  coal  gas,  has  been  found,  it  is 
stated,  to  be  equal  to  coal  gas  at  about 
forty  cents  per  1000  cubic  feet.  The 
result  of  this  certainly  very  acceptable 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


price  has  been,  as  already  intimated, 
the  installation  abroad  of  quite  a  large 
number  of  Dowson  producers  for  private 
use,  and  the  gradual  adoption  of  gas 
engines  of  larger  and  larger  sizes,  so 
that  now  there  remains  very  little  cause 
for  the  impression,  still  entertained  by 
some,  that  the  gas  engine  is  essentially 
a  small  power  motor.  In  the  United 
States,  combination  engine  and  pro- 
ducer plants  are  not  so  well  known,  or, 
at  least,  not  so  much  used,  but  their 
advantages  are  pretty  well  appreciated, 
and  their  more  extensive  introduction 
would  seem  to  be  a  matter  of  but 
a  few  years.  Plants  of  this  kind  are 
already  in  use  there  in  several  places, 
and,  from  all  accounts,  seem  to  be  doing 
satisfactory  work.  Where  they  are  put 
in,  one  is,  of  course,  entirely  indepen- 
dent of  gas  companies,  just  as  in  the 
case  of  oil  engines,  the  whole  outfit 
being  complete  in  itself. 

Careful  tests  of  Otto  engines  work- 
ing in  conjunction  with  Dowson  pro- 
ducers, as  already  stated  in  one  of  the 
preceding  papers,  have  shown  a  fuel 
consumption  as  low  as  1.2  pounds  of 
coal  per  indicated  horse-power  per 
hour,  and  Messrs.  Crossley  Brothers,  of 
Manchester,  the  English  builders  of  the 
Otto  engine,  in  the  early  days  of  Dow- 
son gas  found  that  the  wages  of  a  fire- 
man for  several  gas  generators  are  not 
more  than  those  for  a  set  of  steam 
boilers.  The  gas  also  can  be  conveyed 
with  little  loss  from  condensation  to 
various  parts  of  a  large  establishment 
using  power,  and  independent  gas  en- 
gines can  thus  be  employed  for  differ- 
ent lines  of  shafting.  Any  department 
working  overtime  can  have  its  engine 
supplied  with  gas  from  a  single  gener- 
ator, and  all  the  advantages  can  in 
this  way  be  secured  that  are  usually 
claimed  for,  and  achieved  by,  the  system 
of  sub-division  of  power. 

To  return,  however,  from  this  brief 
digression  to  the  descriptions  of  cur- 
rently used  engines,  we  will  present, 
to  begin  with,  the  so-called  "  Safety 
Vapor  "  engine,  shown  in  Fig.  45, 
and  put  on  the  market  by  the  Safety 
Vapor  Engine  Company,  of  New  York. 
A  feature  at  once  noticeable  in  this  en- 

5—20 


gine,  which  also  works  on  the  Otto 
cycle,  is  the  chain  or  link  belt  shown  at 
the  right,  operating  the  valve.  The 
latter  is  simply  a  flat,  circular  plate 
with  one  port  cut  through  it  in  the 
shape,  nearly,  of  a  sector  of  a  circle. 
The  valve  seat  is  provided  with  two 
similarly  shaped  ports  placed  close  to- 
gether, one  for  admission  of  the  charge 
into  the  cylinder,  and  the  other  for  ex- 
haust. 

Two  ports,  exactly  the  same  in 
shape  and  similarly  located,  are  pro- 
vided in  the  cover  plate  which  holds 
the  valve  in  position.  One  of  these 
ports  communicates  with  the  exhaust 
pipe  and  the  other  with  the  gas  and  air 
supply  pipe.  The  valve,  it  will  be 
understood,  rotates  constantly  in  one 
direction  and  as  the  port  in  the  valve 
establishes  communication  between  the 
first  seat  port  and  the  corresponding 
port  in  the  cover  plate,  exhaust  takes 
place.  The  valve,  proceeding  further 
around,  next  brings  its  port  over  the 
adjoining  admission  ports  in  the  seat 
and  cover  plate,  and  the  charge  of  gas 
and  air  then  enters  the  cylinder,  and  is 
subsequently  compressed,  ignited,  and 
expanded  while  the  valve  completes  its 
revolution  until  its  port  again  establishes 
communication  between  the  exhaust 
ports.  This  completes  one  cycle.  The 
valve,  of  course,  makes  only  one 
revolution  for  every  two  revolutions  of 
the  crank-shaft,  the  large  link  belt 
pulley  above  having  twice  the  diameter 
of  the  smaller  pulley  below  which  drives 
it. 

The  gas  goes  to  the  engine  through 
the  horizontal  branch  pipe,  shown  at 
the  left  in  the  illustration,  passes 
through  a  graduating  gas  valve  by 
which  the  gas  supply,  and  consequently 
the  speed  of  the  engine,  can  be  regu- 
lated, and  then  mixes  in  a  pipe  chamber 
with  air  taken  in  through  the  vertical 
pipe  shown  extending  downward.  The 
mixture  finally  enters  the  admission 
compartment  of  the  valve  chest.  Ig- 
nition of  the  charge  is  effected  electric- 
ally by  a  spark  passing  between  two 
electrodes  in  the  extreme  upper  end  of 
the  cylinder,  the  current  being  furnished 
by  an  electric  battery.  Special  electric 


146 


GASSIER' S  MAGAZINE. 


contact  strips  are  arranged  on  the  valve 
chest  cover  and  are  brought  together 
once  in  every  revolution  of  the  large 
link  belt  pulley  operating  the  valve. 
By  this  arrangement  a  spark  between 
the  electrodes  in  the  cylinder  is  pro- 
duced once  in  every  two  revolutions  of 
the  crankshaft,  or  at  the  beginning  of 
every  fourth  stroke  of  the  piston. 

The  engine,  as  shown  in  the  illustra- 
tion, is  arranged  for  use  in  a  launch 
and  for  this  purpose  is  fitted  up  with  a 
friction  driving  gear  for  the  propeller 
shaft.  This  gear  is  similar  to  the  one 
already  described  in  connection  with 
the  Kane  electro-vapor  launch  engine 
in  the  April  number,  and  its  action 
will  be  at  once  understood  from  the 
illustration.  There  are,  as  will  be  ob- 
served, two  friction  wheels,  mounted 
in  a  frame  pivoted  on  the  propeller 
shaft.  The  latter  carries  a  third  and 
larger  friction  wheel,  which  is  in  con- 
tact with  the  other  two.  By  means  of 
a  lever  extending  upward,  the  frame 
with  its  two  friction  wheels,  may  be 
thrown  over  to  either  one  side  or  the 
other,  bringing  the  wheels  into  contact 
with  the  rim  of  either  one  of  the 
engine  fly-wheels  and  thus  causing  the 
propeller  shaft  to  revolve  in  either 
direction  as  desired,  driving  the  launch 
either  ahead  or  astern.  When  the 
friction  gear  lever  is  in  mid-position, 
both  of  the  small  friction  wheels  are  out 
of  gear,  and  the  engine  revolves  idly, 
the  propeller  shaft  being  at  rest. 
The  stationary  engine  is  exactly 
similar  to  the  marine  engine,  except 
that  it  is  provided  with  a  governor 
belted  to  the  engine  shaft  and  con- 
trolling the  main  gas  valve,  either 
reducing  the  amount  of  gas  admitted 
or  cutting  off  the  supply  altogether 
when  the  speed  of  the  engine  rises 
above  the  normal.  The  engine  is  built 
in  sizes  of  from  one-half  to  six 
horse-power  and,  as  may  have  been 
already  gathered  from  the  fact  that  it 
can  be  applied  to  boat  propulsion,  is 
adapted  to  the  use  of  gasoline  as  well 
as  gas. 

The  Rollason  gas  engine,  of  which 
both  horizontal  and  vertical  designs 
are  shown  in  Figs.  46  and  47,  is  the 


invention  of  Arthur  Rollason,  and  has 
been  in  use  in  England  for  several  years 
with  very  satisfactory  results,  the 
English  builders  being  Messrs.  Wells 
Brothers,  of  Sandiacre,  near  Notting- 
ham. It  is  now  also  being  made  in 
the  United  States  by  the  Electric 


FIG.  45. — THE  SAFETY  VAPOR  ENGINE. 

Manufacturing   and  Gas  Engine  Com- 
pany, of  Greenbush,  N.  Y. 

When  first  brought  out,  the  engine 
was  of  the  three-cycle  type,  that  is  to 
say,  there  was  in  ordinary  working, 
one  explosion  or  impulse  in  every  three 
revolutions  or  in  every  six  strokes.  An 
explosion  having  taken  place,  the  pis- 
ton made  a  forward  stroke  under  its 
impulse  ;  then  the  exhaust  valve  was 
opened,  and  the  piston  on  its  return 
expelled  a  large  proportion  of  the  prod- 
ucts of  combustion.  During  the  sec- 
ond forward  stroke  the  piston  drew  in 
behind  it  what  was  termed  a  scavenger 
charge  of  air  which  it  forced  out  on  the 
back  stroke  together  with  what  re- 
mained of  the  burnt  gases.  On  the 
third  outward  stroke  a  combustible 
charge  of  gas  and  air  was  drawn  in, 
and  on  the  next  back  stroke,  or  sixth 
stroke,  this  mixture  was  compressed 
ready  for  ignition.  This  completed  the 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


cycle,  and  the  engine  was  then  ready 
to  again  go  through  the  same  series  of 
operations.  In  the  engine  as  now  built, 
however,  a  four-stroke  cycle  is  followed, 
and  yet  the  use  of  the  scavenger  charge 
is  retained,  a  feature  which  is  probably 
not  found  in  any  other  four- stroke  cycle 
gas  or  oil  engine  now  on  the  market. 
The  particular  advantage  of  a  scavenger 
charge  of  air  will  be  appreciated  when 
it  is  borne  in  mind  that  ordinarily  the 
clearance  spaces  in  a  gas  engine  cylin- 
der are  filled  with  used-up  gases  when 


through  the  valve  F  in  the  bed-plate, 
and  gains  access  to  the  passage  E,  one 
end  of  which  communicates  with  the 
pump  and  the  other  end  with  the  air 
valve  entering  .the  main  cylinder.  On 
the  suction  stroke  of  the  main  piston, 
air  is  drawn  into  the  pump,  and  a  gas 
and  air  mixture  into  the  cylinder.  On 
the  compression  stroke  the  air  is  com- 
pressed in  the  pump,  but  only  slightly, 
because  the  clearance  space  is  so  large. 
On  the  explosion  stroke  this  air  is  ex- 
panded. As  soon  as  this  stroke 


FIG     46.— THE   ROLLASON   HORIZONTAL  GAS   ENGINE. 


the  fresh  charge  ot  explosive  mixture 
enters  the  cylinder,  and  these  remain- 
ing burnt  gases  probably  exert  a  de- 
laying action  on  the  explosion. 

The  interior  construction  of  a  portion 
of  the  Rollason  engine  is  shown  in  the 
sectional  views  Figs.  48  and  49,  from 
which  it  will  be  seen  that  in  front  of 
the  cylinder  is  a  long  tubular  guide  in 
which  works  a  second  piston  rigidly 
connected  to  the  front.  This  tubular 
guide  and  piston  constitute  a  pump  in 
which  air,  slightly  compressed,  forms 
the  scavenger  charge.  Air  enters 


is  completed,  the  exhaust  valve  C 
opens,  and  the  main  piston,  returning, 
sweeps  the  products  of  combustion  be- 
fore it,  while  the  pump  piston  com- 
presses the  air.  Shortly  before  the  end 
of  this  stroke  the  air  valve  is  opened 
and  allows  the  compressed  charge 
from  the  pump  to  rush  into  the  cylin- 
der and  out  through  the  still  open  ex- 
haust valve.  The  exhaust  valve  is  kept 
open  until  the  crank  passes  the  centre, 
affording  ample  time  for  all  the  prod- 
ucts of  combustion  to  be  completely 
swept  out.  The  annular  gas  valve  is 


148 


GASSIER' S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.    47.— THE   KOLLASON    VERTICAL   GAS   ENGINE. 


then  opened  and  the  motor  piston  draws 
in  its  charge. 

The  regulation  of  speed  in  the  large 
engines  is  effected  in  two  different  ways. 
There  is  a  centrifugal  governor  con- 
nected with  a  throttle  valve,  and  small 
variations  of  load  are  met  by  reducing 
the  strength  of  the  charge.  If  the  speed 
is  greatly  increased,  however,  the  gas 
valve  is  not  opened  at  all.  It  is  worked 
by  a  hit-and-miss  device,  and  at  high 


speeds  a  cam  connected  to  the  governor 
trips  the  device  and  cuts  off  the  gas. 

The  admission  and  exhaust  valves 
are  of  the  poppet  type,  and  the  original 
slide-valve  design  has  been  abandoned 
as  in  most  other  makes  of  gas  engine. 
Firing  of  the  charge  is  effected  by  a 
tube  igniter. 

The  nature  of  the  valve  gear  will  be 
made  clear  by  an  examination  of  Fig. 
50,  which  represents  a  cross-section  of 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


149 


the  cylinder  and  of  the  valve  chambers. 
The  explosion  or  combustion  chamber 
A  is  surrounded  with  the  usual  water 
jacket  and  has  the  passage  a  through 
which  air  enters  on  its  way  to  the  air 
admission  ports  b.  The  lay-shaft  B  is 
driven  from  the  crank  shaft  by  reduc- 
ing gearing  and  is  provided  with  a 
cam,  C,  for  operating  the  igniting 
device,  and  with  a  second  cam,  D,  for 
governing  the  admission  valve  E  and 
exhaust  valve  F  through  the  interven- 
tion of  a  two-armed  rocking  lever 
pivoted  at  G.  This  lever  carries  at 
one  end  a  roller,  H,  which  is  kept 
pressed  against  the  cam  D  by  means  of 
the  spring  J.  When  the  cam  D  forces 
the  roller  H  outward,  the  opposite  end 
of  the  rocking  lever  strikes  the  stem  of 
the  exhaust  valve  F  and  lifts  this  valve 
from  its  seat,  at  tne  same  time  enabling 
the  admission  valve  E  to  close  under  the 
influence  of  the  spring  with  which  it  is 
provided.  Thus  the  movement  of  the 
lever  in  one  direction  under  the  action 
of  the  roller  H  opens  the  admission 
valve,  and  the  return  movement  under 
the  influence  of  the  spring  J  opens  the 
exhaust  valve,  the  latter  also  being 
fitted  with  a  spring,  as  shown. 

The   admission   chamber,  as  already 


FIGS.  48-49  —SECTIONAL  VIEWS  OF  THE 
ROLLASON  ENGINE. 


stated,  is  provided  with  air  ports  b 
which  communicate  with  the  external 
air  through  the  passages  a.  The  gas 
chamber  K,  on  the  other  hand,  com- 


municates with  the  source  of  gas  supply 
and  has  small  ports  governed  by  a  lift 
valve,  c.  Let  us  suppose  now  that 
an  explosive  charge  of  gas  and  air  is 
being  compressed  in  the  cylinder  end 


FIG.  50. — VALVE   GEAR   DETAIL  OF 
ROLLASON   ENGINE. 


A.     A  small  portion  of  the  compressed 
charge  will  escape    through  a  narrow 

froove  into  the  port  v,  and  pass 
•om  there  through  the  port  i  into  the 
chimney  N,  where  it  is  ignited  by  the 
gas  flame  from  R.  The  flame  of  the 
ignited  mixture  passes  back  into  the 
port  v,  but  the  fineness  of  the  groove 
m  prevents  it  from  passing  into  the 
cylinder  end  A.  When  the  time  of 
igniting  the  charge  in  the  cylinder  has 
arrived,  the  cam  C  permits  a  quick  out- 
ward movement  of  the  piston  valve  P, 
first  closing  the  port  i  by  a  small  valve 
controlling  it,  and  afterward  opening  the 
small  end  of  the  port  v  by  the  com- 
pletion of  the  out-stroke  of  the  piston 
valve  P.  The  flame  is  thus  first  shut 
in,  and  then  put  in  free  communication 
with  the  combustion  chamber  A,  effect- 
ing ignition  of  the  charge.  The  press- 
ure in  the  combustion  chamber,  acting 
through  the  piston-valve  P  upon  the 
three-armed  rocking  lever  L,  tends  to 
keep  the  valve  which  controls  the  open- 
ing /  tight  upon  its  seat. 

For  starting  large  engines,  the   ar- 


15° 


GASSIER 'S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.  51.— DETAIL   OF   STARTING   GEA1 
LARGE   ROLLASON   ENGINES. 


rangement  shown  in  Fig.  51  is  used. 
A  separate  hand  pump  Q,  is  connected 
with  the  gas  supply  pipe,  provided 
with  check  valves,  so  that  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  gas  may  be  pumped  into 
the  combustion  chamber  to  form  an  ex- 
plosive mixture.  To  effect  ignition  of 
this  mixture,  the  igniting  device  is  pro- 
vided with  a  releasable  catch,  S,  Fig. 
51,  to  hold  it  in  the  non-igniting  posi- 
tion after  the  crank  has  turned  the 
centre.  If  the  mixture  be  burning  in 
the  passageway  v,  the  release  of  the 
catch  S  will  cause  ignition  and  explo- 
sion of  the  contents  of  the  engine  cylin- 
der. 

In  the  smaller  sizes  of  engine,  the 
vertical  engine,  for  example,  the  special 
igniting  valve  is  not  used,  and  the  two- 
armed  rocking  lever  controls  simply  the 
admission  and  exhaust  valves,  the  tube 
igniter  being  always  in  direct  com- 
munication with  the  end  of  the  engine 
cylinder.  The  engine  shown  in  Fig.  56 
is  one  of  two  indicated  horse-power. 
The  horizontal  design  is  turned  out  in 
sizes  to  meet  the  demand. 

An  example  of  what  is  being  done  in 
Germany  in  the  way  of  petroleum 
engines  is  afforded  by  the  Capitaine 
engine  shown  in  elevation  and  vertical 
section  in  Figs.  54  and  55.  This 
engine  is  now  being  introduced  into 
England  by  Mr.  L.  Tolch,  of  Liver- 
pool. 


The  engine  works  on  the  Otto  cycle. 
Oil  is  taken  through  a  pump  at  K,  Fig. 
54,  and  is  forced  into  the  vaporizer  D, 
Fig.  55.  This  vaporizer  is  kept  hot  by 
a  flame  from  the  lamp  C.  The  latter  is 
provided  with  a  long  tube  which  bends 
back  upon  itself,  and  ends  in  a  burner 
cone.  The  flame  plays  on  the  lamp 
tube  as  well  as  on  the  vaporizer,  and 
in  this  way  the  pretroleum  is  converted 
into  vapor  before  it  reaches  the  burner 
cone.  The  ignition  tube  F  also  stands 
in  the  flame,  and  is  made  incandescent 
for  the  purpose  of  firing  the  charge, 
which  is  compressed  within  it  on  the 
second  stroke  of  the  piston.  In  the 
latest  form  of  the  engine,  however,  the 
use  of  the  ignition  tube  has  been 
abandoned,  and  the  charge  is  fired  by 
the  heat  of  the  vaporizer  alone.  On 
the  first  stroke  of  the  piston  air  enters 
through  the  pipe  B  and  inlet  valve  A, 
while  the  contents  of  the  vaporizer  are 


FIG.   52.— THE   CAPITAINE   OIL   ENGINE. 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES, 


FIG     53.— DOUBLE-CYLINDER   CAPITAINE   LAUNCH^ENGINE. 


drawn  out  by  admitting  air  at  its  end 
through  the  valve  C. 

The  exhaust  valve  and  the  oil  pump 
are  both  operated  by  an  eccentric. 
As  they  are  required  to  move  only  at 
each  alternate  revolution,  the  mech- 
anism shown  in  Fig.  56  is  introduced 
to  throw  the  eccentric  rod  in  and  out  of 
engagement.  The  eccentric  rod  is 
pivoted  to  a  slipper  working  in  a 
guide  ;  to  this  slipper  is  pivoted  a  cross- 
piece  S  with  two  arms.  These  arms 
work  in  conjunction  with  two  fixed 
shoulder  pieces  striking  them  in  suc- 
cession. If  with  the  parts  in  the  posi- 
tion shown,  the  cross-piece  were  to  rise 
it  would  operate  the  bell-crank  M.  As 


it  neared  the  end  of  its  travel  one  ol 
the  arms  would  strike  the  right-hand 
shoulder,  tilting  the  cross-piece,  so  that 
on  its  next  stroke  it  would  miss  the  bell- 
crank.  The  left  shoulder  piece  could 
then  restore  the  cross-piece  to  its  old 
position,  and  on  the  next  stroke  the 
bell- crank  would  be  moved. 

The  bell-crank  M  works  the  lever  L, 
one  member  of  which  raises  the  exhaust 
valve  O,  Fig.  55,  while  the  other 
operates  the  pump,  Figs.  54  and  57. 
The  oil  enters  the  tube  at  V  by  natural 
pressure,  and  through  the  small  aper- 
ture at  the  bottom  of  the  bucket  S 
ascends  up  to  the  non-return  valve  H. 
On  pressing  the  pump  rod  W  upward, 


CASS/EX'S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.  54. — ELEVATION   OF  THE  CAPITAINE 
ENGINE. 


FIG.  55. — VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE 
CAPITAINE  ENGII^E. 


FIG.  56.— VALVE  GEAR  DETAIL  OF 
CAPITAINE  ENGINE. 


FIG.  57. — OIL  PUMP    OF 
CAPITAINE  ENGINE. 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


153 


the  conical  top  point  closes  the  bottom 
hole  of  the  bucket  S  and  carries  the 
bucket  before  it,  thus  forcing  the  oil 
through  the  non-return  valve 
H  through  T  into  the  sprayer 
valve  C  of  the  vaporizer.  On 
letting  go  the  rod  W,  the  non- 
return valve,  the  bucket,  and 
rod  will  be  pressed  down  by 
springs  to  their  original  position 
shown  in  Fig.  57.  All  parts  of 
the  pump  can  be  easily  got  at 
after  slacking  the  top  screw  and 
removing  the  traverse.  The 
capacity  of  the  pump  is  regu- 
lated by  screwing  up  or  down 
the  nut  a,  thus  limiting  the 
stroke  of  the  rod  W,  which  is 
securely  screwed  to  the  nut  b. 
When  an  engine  of  this  kind  is 
fitted  to  a  launch,  the  pump  is 
a  suction  and  delivery  pump  of 
similar  design,  thus  enabling 
the  engine  to  pump  oil  from  a 
tank  below  the  pump.  The 
vertical  arm  of  the  bell-crank 
ends  in  a  detent  which  can  be 
engaged  by  a  corresponding 
detent  N,  Fig.  54,  on  a  rod  con- 
.nected  to  the  governor.  The 
governor  is  carried  in  the  fly- 
wheel, and  transmits  its  motion 
through  the  boss  to  a  sliding 
collar  between  the  wheel  and 
the  bearing.  A  bell-crank  and 
a  rod  connect  the  collar  to  the 
detent.  The  admission  of  oil 
is  thus  regulated  by  the  gov- 
ernor according  to  the  needs  of 
the  engine. 

The  operation  of  the  engine 
is  as  follows  :  Explosion  takes  place 
with  the  piston  on  the  top  centre,  after 
previous  admission  of  oil-gas  and  air; 
the  consequent  impulse  drives  the  pis- 
ton down.  On  the  upstroke  the  ec- 
centric opens  the  exhaust  valve  and 
the  burnt  gases  escape,  the  same 
movement  of  the  eccentric  also  caus- 
ing the  feed  pump  to  inject  oil  to 
the  vaporizer.  On  the  next  down- 
stroke  there  is  admission  or  suction 
of  oil-gas  and  air ;  on  this  down- 
stroke  and  the  next,  the  eccentric 
vibrating  piece  "misses,"  and  on  the 


upstroke  the  explosive  charge  is  com- 
pressed, and  when  the  piston  is  at 
top  centre  there  is  ignition  and  im- 


FIG.   58.— SINGLE-CYLINDER   CAPITAINE    LAUNCH   ENGINE. 


pulse.  We  thus  have  during  two 
revolutions  impulse,  exhaust,  admis- 
sion of  fresh  charge,  and  compres- 
sion. The  exhaust  pipe  is  connected 
to  the  chamber  marked  J  in  Fig.  54  ; 
Q  and  P  in  Fig.  55  are  pipes  leading 
from  and  to  the  water  jacket  surround- 
ing the  cylinder. 

During  the  early  part  of  last  year  a 
launch  was  on  trial  at  Chester, 
England,  fitted  with  one  of  the  Capi- 
taine  engines,  a  friction  gear  being  used 
for  reversing  or  letting  the  engine  run 
idly  with  the  propeller  shaft  at  rest. 


GASSIER  'S  MAGAZINE. 


The  products  of  combustion  from  the 
cylinder  were  led  to  an  exhaust 
chamber  under  a  thwart,  and  from  there 
were  discharged  under  water.  To  the 
eccentric  was  attached  a  lever  which 
worked  a  small  pump.  The  latter 
circulated  cooling  water  around  the 
cylinder.  An  oil  supply  was  carried  in 
a  tank  in  a  bow  chamber.  The  launch 
was  thirty-five  feet  long  by  six  feet  ten 
inches  beam  by  two  feet  six  inches 
draught,  and  could  comfortably  carry 
about  fifty  passengers.  The  engine 
developed,  as  a  maximum,  six  and  one- 


also  a  single  cylinder  engine.  Both 
types  work  on  the  four-stroke,  or  Otto 
cycle.  In  the  double-cylinder  en- 
gine, it  will  be  noticed,  the  cranks 
are  set  together,  and  one  impulse  is 
thus  obtained  at  every  revolution,  the 
cylinders  acting  alternately.  Ordinary, 
refined  oil  of  commerce  is  used  in  the 
engine.  The  whole  outfit  is  made  up 
of  the  engine  proper,  a  small  oil  pump, 
and  a  vaporizer,  the  last  being  arranged 
at  the  end  of  the  cylinder.  The  oil  is 
poured  into  a  small  tank,  which  is 
separate  from  the  engine  and  can  be 


FIG.  59.— THE  "TRUSTY"  ENGINE,  BUILT  BY  MESSRS.  WEYMAN  &  HITCHCOCK,  GUILDFORD,  ENGLAND. 


half  horse-power,  and  gave  a  speed  ot 
about  eight  and  one-half  knots  an  hour. 
The  weight  of  the  engine  complete  was 
about  2000  pounds.  On  the  European 
continent  launches  propelled  by  these 
Capitaine  motors  are  extensively  used, 
especially  -at  Hamburg,  where  a  com- 
paratively large  number  are  at  work. 

The  "Trusty"  petroleum  engine, 
built  by  Messrs.  Weyman  &  Hitch- 
cock, Limited,  of  Guildford,  England, 
is  shown  in  Fig.  59,  the  illustration 
representing  a  view  of  a  double- cyl- 
inder engine,  though  the  firm  make 


placed  in  any  convenient  position  in  the 
engine  room. 

From  this  tank  the  oil  passes  to  the 
pump  through  a  small  pipe,  the  pump 
being  controlled  by  the  governor.  The 
requisite  amount  of  oil  is  thus  pumped 
into  the  vaporizer,  and  the  vapor  is 
drawn  into  the  working  cylinder  during 
the  suction  stroke,  mixing,  in  the 
cylinder,  with  a  suitable  proportion  of 
air  to  make  an  explosive  charge.  Igni- 
tion of  the  charge  is  effected  by  an 
ordinary  tube  igniter  kept  hot  by 
means  of  a  small  blow  pipe  flame. 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES, 


155 


The  Bray  ton  petroleum  engine, 
shown  in  Fig.  60,  has  already  been 
illustrated  and  described  in  a  separate 
article  in  an  earlier  number  of  this 
magazine,  but  is  here  again  incorpor- 
ated for  the  sake  of  convenience  and 
completeness.  The  illustrations,  while 


made  to  gasify  or  to  vaporize,  or  even 
to  heat  the  petroleum  spray.  The  oil  is 
finely  divided — atomized  in  fact — in  a 
large  quantity  of  air.- and  is  flashed  into 
flame  instantly.  Trie  combustion  re- 
sembles that  of  flour  dust  or  coal  dust, 
suspended  in  the  air,  and  which  is  so 


FIG.   60. — THE   BRAYTON   PETROLEUM   ENGINE. 


showing  one  ot  the  older  types  ol  Bray- 
ton  engines,  used  with  very  good  re- 
sults in  the  United  States,  perfectly  rep- 
resent the  principles  of  operation. 
The  engine,  as  indicated  by  its  name, 
belongs  to  the  general  class  of  petro- 
leum engines,  but  in  it  no  attempt  is 


rapid  that  it  constitutes  an  explosion. 
The  combustible  material  is  divided  in- 
to infinitely  small  particles,  and  each 
particle  is  surrounded  with  an  ample 
supply  of  oxygen,  to  which  it  exposes 
a  surface  which  is  very  great  in  relation 
to  its  bulk.  Under  these  conditions 


156 


CASS/EX'S  MAGAZINE. 


combustion  is  exceedingly  rapid,  and 
spreads  from  particle  to  particle  with 
amazing  celerity.  The  oil  is  burned 
suspended  in  air  ;  its  combustion  is 
complete,  and  is  not  impaired  or  de- 
layed by  metallic  surfaces  on  which  de- 
posit can  accumulate. 

The  method  of  ignition  is  entirely 
novel.  As  the  oil  is  not  admitted  till 
the  moment  of  explosion,  there  is  no 
question  of  ' '  timing  ' '  valves,  or  of 
attaining  a  certain  degree  of  compres- 
sion before  the  charge  can  be  fired.  A 


platinum   is  maintained    at    a   glowing- 
temperature  within  the  cylinder. 

The  engine  works  on  a  modification 
of  the  Otto  cycle.  Explosion,  exhaust, 
suction,  and  compression  follow  each 
other  in  the  usual  order,  but  the  suc- 
tion is  a  suction  of  air  only  (not  gas 
and  air),  and  the  compression,  also  a 
compression  of  air  only.  Further,  the 
exhaust  valve  is  held  open  during  the 
early  part  of  the  compression  stroke  to 
"scavenge"  the  products  of  combus- 
tion out  of  the  clearance  space,  and  to  re- 


FIG.    6l.— SECTION  A  L'VIEW   OF   BRAYTON    ENGINE. 


brilliantly  incandescent  surface  can  be 
maintained  in  the  cylinder  all  the  time, 
ready  to  ignite  the  first  drop  of  oil  that 
comes  in  contact  with  it.  To  do  this, 
advantage  is  taken  of  the  well-known 
phenomenon  of  flameless  combustion, 
which  is  often  shown  on  the  lecture 
table,  and  but  seldom  found  in  practical 
work.  A  jet  of  air  laden  with  hydro- 
carbon vapor  is  made  to  impinge  con- 
tinuously on  a  coil  of  platinum  wire 
wrhich  has  been  previously  heated,  and 
as  long  as  the  jet  is  continued  the 


place  them  by  air.  As  the  oil  is  sprayed 
into  the  compressed  air  in  the  cylinder 
it  requires  a  blast  of  high-pressure  air 
to  effect  its  entrance.  This  air  is 
obtained  from  a  pump,  which  also 
supplies  air  to  the  incandescent  burner, 
a  pressure  of  eighty  pounds  to  the 
square  inch  being  employed  for  this 
purpose. 

A  sectional  view  of  the  engine  is  given 
in  Fig.  61,  while  Fig.  62  shows  some 
of  the  details.  The  general  appearance 
of  the  engine  is  that  of  an  inverted 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


beam  engine,  the  beam  being  inclosed 
within  the  bed,  and  having  a  connecting 
rod  at  each  end  of  it.  From  an  inter- 
mediate point  in  the  beam  is  worked 
the  small  pump  which  supplies  the  com- 
pressed air  for  spraying  the  charge  and 
for  maintaining  the  firing  light.  This 
pump  is  connected  by  a  pipe  to  the 
cylinder  head,  shown  on  an  enlarged 
scale  in  Fig.  62.  The  pipe  A,  to- 
gether with  the  oil  supply  pipe  B, 


to  the  sprayer  D.  The  former  consists 
of  a  tube  in  the  end  of  which  there  are 
coils  of  platinum  wire.  These  are 
separated  from  a  packing  of  asbestos  F 
by  a  perforated  steel  disc  and  a  plate 
of  wire  gauze.  A  fine  bore  tube  con- 
nects the  firing  device  with  the  auxiliary 
oil  reservoir  G  in  which  the  oil  is  kept 
at  a  constant  level  by  a  float.  Air  from 
the 'pump  is  admitted  to  this  reservoir 
by  the  pipe  H  ;  part  of  it  goes  direct  to 


FIG.   62.— SECTIONAL  VIEW   OF   BRAYTON   ENGINE. 


discharges  into  a  chamber,  the  bottom 
of  which  is  closed  by  a  valve  C.  When 
this  valve  is  lifted,  the  oil  is  driven 
violently  down  the  pipe,  and  through 
the  circumferential  cuts  at  its  lower 
end,  into  the  clearance  space  of  the 
cylinder.  The  oil  is  finely  divided  by 
the  action  of  the  blast  and  is  driven  out 
at  several  different  levels  in  minute 
particles. 

The  igniting  device  E  is  placed  near 


the  platinum  burner  through  the  adjust- 
able cock  J  and  part  through  the  device 
K.  This  latter  consists  of  a  perforated 
vessel  having  an  internal  pipe,  the  lip 
of  which  is  below  the  oil  level,  so  that 
oil  and  air  are  driven  upon  it  in  spray 
to  the  asbestos  pad  F.  The  heat  of  the 
cylinder  continually  vaporizes  the  petro- 
leum in  the  asbestos,  and  insures  it  be- 
ing carried  forward  in  gaseous  form  to 
the  platinum  coils.  In  order  to  effect 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE, 


the  preliminary  heating  of  the  platinum, 
there  is  provided  opposite  to  it  a  door 
L  with  a  glass-covered  aperture  in  its 
centre.  This  door  is  opened,  and  a 
torch  is  inserted  by  which  the  platinum 
is  raised  to  a  red  heat. 

The  oil  pump  M,  Fig.  61,  is  operated 
by  an  eccentric  driven  by  one  to  two 
gearing  from  the  crankshaft.  The  exact 
length  of  stroke  of  this  pump  is  deter- 
mined by  a  wedge,  which  occupies  a 
position  in  a  slot  between  the  ends  of 
the  eccentric-rod  and  of  the  pump 
plunger.  When  the  engine  is  running- 
above  the  normal  speed,  the  wedge  is 
raised  by  the  governor  ;  when  it  is  run- 
ning below  the  normal,  the  wedge  is 
lowered  and  the  stroke  of  the  pump  is 
nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  eccentric.  A 
hand  crank  is  provided,  Fig.  60,  by 
which  the  pump  can  be  worked  before 
the  engine  is  started.  On  the  same 
shaft  with  the  eccentric  is  a  cam  for 
operating  the  oil  inlet  valve  C,  and  the 
exhaust  valve  M,  the  former  being 
opened  when  the  left-hand  end  of  the 
lever  above  it  is  raised,  and  the  latter 


when  it  is  depressed.  The  exhaust 
valve,  as  already  stated,  is  opened  at 
each  revolution.  It  first  evacuates  the 
greater  part  of  the  products  of  combus- 
tion, and  next  it  allows  part  of  the  air 
to  blow  through  to  scavenge  the  clear- 
ance space.  This  air  is  admitted  by  an 
automatic  valve  in  the  piston,  Figs.  61 
and  62,  which  opens  as  soon  as  a  partial 
vacuum  is  formed  in  the  cylinder.  This 
position  is  chosen  for  the  valve  because 
the  air  can  enter  with  little  disturbance 
of  the  hot  products  of  combustion, 
which  congregate  above,  and  can  then 
sweep  them  completely  out  of  the  cylin- 
der. To  start  the  engine,  the  door  L  is 
opened  and  a  torch  of  asbestos  soaked 
in  paraffin  is  introduced  and  placed  be- 
neath the  burner  E.  When  this  is 
properly  heated  the  torch  is  withdrawn 
and  the  door  closed.  A  charge  of  oil 
is  then  injected  by  hand  and  the  fly- 
wheel turned.  On  the  compression 
stroke  an  explosion  should  occur,  after 
which  the  engine  runs  without  further 
attention.  The  cylinder  is,  of  course, 
water-jacketed  in  the  usual  way. 


(To  be  continued."] 


THE   FUTURE   OF   CAST   STEEL" 


EVERY  day  we  see  a  further  de- 
velopment of  the  employment 
of  the  extra  soft  steel  or  homo- 
geneous iron  generally  called  cast  steel. 
Without  recounting  all  that  has  been 
said  respecting  the  manufacture  of  this 
metal,  it  will  be  doubtless  admitted  that 
no  metallurgical  operation  presents 
more  precision  or  certainty  than  the 
working  of  the  Martin  furnace  with 
basic  or  neutral  hearth,  or  of  the 
Thomas  converter,  which  are  the  prin- 
cipal producing  furnaces  of  cast  steel. 

In  these  days  we  no  longer  attach  as 
much  importance  as  in  the  past  to  the 
employment  of  very  pure  raw  materials 
of  well-known  origin.  Chemical  analysis 
has  taken  the  place  of  the  foreman's 

*By  permission  of  La  Metallurgie. 


eye  in  appreciating  the  purity  and 
quality  of  the  material  used  in  working. 
What  matters  the  quantity  of  phos- 
phorus of  the  pig  or  scrap  worked  in 
the  Martin  furnace,  since  this  phos- 
phorus is  sure  to  be  eliminated  in  the 
course  of  working,  thanks  to  a  suitable 
addition  of  lime,  which  forms  a  basic 
slag  capable  of  retaining  the  phos- 
phoric acid  proceeding  from  the  oxida- 
tion of  the  phosphorus  charged  ?  We 
might  say  as  much  up  to  a  certain 
point  of  the  presence  of  sulphur.  This 
substance,  which  very  justly  occupies 
the  attention  of  manufacturers  of  soft 
steel,  can  now  be  very  easily  eliminated 
by  a  preliminary  operation  in  the  pres- 
ence of  manganese.  The  Martin  furn- 
ace, with  basic  or  neutral  sole,  is  there- 


MODERN  GAS  AND  OIL  ENGINES. 


By  Albert  Spies,  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M.  E. 
tfifth 


FIELD     which     almost 
from  the  beginning  of 
the  oil  engine  indus- 
try had  suggested  it- 
self   as    a    promising 
one  for  the  extensive 
use  of  engines  of  that 
class   is    that  of  agri- 
cultural    engineering. 
Steam    engines    have 
for  quite  a  number  of 
years  been  largely  em- 
ployed in  agriculture, 
and  have  demonstrated 
con  clusively  that 
something  more  than 
man    power   has    be- 
c  o  m  e    necessary    to 
economically  carry  on 
much     of     the     farm 
work  of  the  present  day.  For  such  work, 
however,   steam   engines    have   always 
carried  with  them  the  dangers  of  steam 
boilers,    necessarily  entrusted    to    the 
care  of  comparatively  unskilled  attend- 
ants, and  it  has  become  generally  rec- 
ognized that  if  some  other,  less  danger- 
ous source  of  power  were  available,  it 
would   be  well  worth  having.     Oil  en- 
gines with  their  comparative  simplicity 
and  absence  of  complication  in  manage- 
ment appeared  to  exactly  meet  the  re- 
quirements, and  as  a  consequence  port- 
able outfits  were  built  and  are  already 
much  used   for   threshing    and    other 
similar  purposes. 

One  of  the  makes  which  has  become 
prominent  in  this  line  is  the  Hornsby- 
Akroyd  oil  engine,  of  which  a  portable 
form  is  shown  in  Fig.  64,  while  Fig.  63 
represents  the  stationary  design.  It  is 
built  by  Messrs.  Richard  Hornsby  & 
Sons,  Limited,  of  Grantham,  England. 
The  engine  is  horizontal  and  works  on 


the  well  -  known  Otto  cycle.  It  is 
constructed  with  a  working  cylinder 
closed  at  one  end  by  a  cover  and  open 
at  the  other.  In  this  cylinder  works  the 
piston,  which  is  formed  like  a  plunger, 
being  open  at  one  end  to  receive  the 
end  of  the  connecting  rod.  Near  the 
closed  end  of  the  cylinder  a  valve  box 
is  fitted,  which  contains  two  valves,  one 
being  the  air  valve  and  the  other  the 
exhaust  valve.  The  air  and  the  ex- 
haust valves  are  operated  by  separate 
levers,  each  lever  being  moved  by  a 
cam  mounted  on  a  horizontal  shaft, 
driven  by  the  crankshaft  through  skew 
or  bevel  wheels.  This  horizontal  shaft 
makes  only  one  revolution  while  the 
crankshaft  makes  two,  so  that  the  air 
and  exhaust  valves  are  each  opened 
only  once  in  every  two  revolutions. 

At  the  back  of  the  cylinder  is  a  cast- 
iron  box,  called  the  vaporizer,  which  is 
always  open  to  the  cylinder  through  a 
neck.  This  vaporizer  is  heated,  before 
starting  the  engine,  by  an  external 
lamp  blown  by  a  small  fan  for  a  few 
minutes,  so  that  the  vaporizer  shall  be 
able  to  vaporize  and  explode  the  oil 
when  it  is  pumped  into  it.  After  the 
engine  has  started  running,  the  lamp  is 
no  longer  required,  the  vaporizer  being 
kept  hot  enough  by  the  explosions 
which  take  place  in  it. 

A  small  oil  pump  worked  by  the  air 
valve  lever  draws  oil  from  the  oil  tank 
under  the  engine  and  forces  it  into  the 
vaporizer  ;  this  takes  place  only  during 
the  outstroke  of  the  piston,  when  it  is 
drawing  in  air.  The  oil  on  its  way 
from  the  pump  to  the  vaporizer  passes 
through  a  valve  box  attached  to  the 
vaporizer.  This  valve  box  has  two 
valves  in  it,  one  kept  closed  by  a  spring 
which  the  oil  forces  open  as  it  goes  into 

185 


186 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


the  vaporizer.  The  other  is  also  kept 
closed  by  a  spring,  and  should  the  en- 
gine run  too  quickly,  the  governor 
opens  it  and  allows  some  of  the  oil  to 
flow  back  to  the  tank.  This  valve  can 
also  be  opened  by  turning  a  little  regu- 
lating handle,  which  will  stop  the  sup- 
ply of  oil  to  the  vaporizer,  and  thus 
stop  the  engine.  The  action  of  the 
engine  may  be  explained  as  follows  : 

The  vaporizer  having  been  previously 
heated  and  the  fly-wheel  being  pulled 
round,  the  first  outstroke  of  the  engine 
thus  made  will  cause  air  to  be  drawn 
into  the  cylinder,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  pump  will  force  oil  into  the  vapo- 
rizer, which  is  immediately  transformed 


vaporizer,  so  that  when  the  engine  runs 
too  quickly  this  valve  is  opened  by  the 
governor  and  the  oil  allowed  to  return 
to  the  tank  instead  of  going  into  the 
vaporizer.  The  latter  getting  little  or 
no  oil,  the  speed  of  the  engine  is  thus 
regulated. 

The  oil  used  for  running  these  en- 
gines can  be  varied  from  oil  of  a  specific 
gravity  of .  8  to  one  of  .  85  and  even  .  88, 
with  flashing  points  of  from  200  to  250 
degrees  Fahrenheit. 

The  outline  drawing,  Fig.  65,  will 
help  to  further  explain  the  general  con- 
struction and  manner  of  working  of  the 
engine.  In  this,  P  represents  the  ex- 
haust valve  lever  ;  Q  is  the  oil  pump, 


FIG.   65. — EXPLANATORY   DIAGRAM   OF   HORNSBY-AKROYD   ENGINE. 


into  oil  vapor.  On  the  return  stroke 
of  the  piston,  the  air  is  compressed  in- 
to the  vaporizer  and  thereby  mixed 
with  the  oil  vapor,  and  just  as  the  pis- 
ton gets  to  the  end  of  its  stroke,  and 
the  compression  is,  therefore,  greatest, 
an  explosion  takes  place,  which  forces 
the  piston  out  on  its  second  stroke. 
When  the  piston  gets  to  the  end  of  this 
stroke  the  exhaust  valve  opens,  and  the 
return  stroke  expels  the  gases,  the  same 
cycle  of  operations  being  repeated  con- 
tinuously. 

The  speed  of  the  engine  is  governed 
by  a  small  Porter  governor  which  acts 
through  levers  on  an  overflow  valve 
fitted  in  the  valve  box  attached  to  the 


and  R  is  the  small  fan  referred  to, 
driven  from  the  pulleys  S.  The  vapo- 
rizer lamp  is  shown  at  T,  the  vaporizer 
itself  being  marked  V  ;  H  is  the  cam 
shaft,  and  K  are  the  governor  gear 
wheels  ;  B  is  a  cylinder  oiler  ;  M  is  the 
connecting  rod  from  the  governor  to 
the  vaporizer  valve  box  X.  The  water 
circulating  pipes  for  the  cylinder  jacket 
are  marked  a  and  b,  and  those  for  the 
vaporizer  valve  box  are  marked  c  and 
d.  The  oil  supply  pipe  f  from  the 
tank  to  the  pump  has  a  three-way  cock 
e  with  a  fitter  inside  ;  g  is  the  oil  pipe 
from  the  pump  to  the  vaporizer  valve 
box,  and  h  is  the  overflow  pipe  from  the 
vaporizer  valve  box  to  the  oil  tank. 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


18? 


FIG.   63. — STATIONARY   HORNSBY-AKROYD   ENGINE. 


The  absence  ot  all  flame  in  this  en- 
gine, after  having  started,  is  a  striking 
feature,  and  is  claimed  to  make  the  en- 
gine a  peculiarly  safe  one.  The  engine 
is  turned  out  in  large  numbers,  and, 
like  other  engines  of  its  class,  is  used 
for  almost  every  purpose  that  power  is 
required.  The  stationary  motor  is  built 
in  sizes  of  from  one  and  one-half  to 
nineteen  actual  horse-power,  and  the 
portable  type,  in  sizes  of  from  three  and 
one-half  to  nineteen  horse-power.  In 
the  portable  type  that  which  takes  the 
place  of  the  boiler  is  a  water  tank  con- 
taining water  for  circulation  through  the 
engine  cylinder  jacket  ;  that  which 
takes  the  place  of  a  smokestack  is  an 
exhaust  silencing  chamber,  and  that 
which  takes  the  place  of  the  fire-box  is 
an  oil  tank.  The  outfit  is  thus  remark- 
ably independent  and  self-sufficing. 


A  somewhat  similar  portable  oil  en- 
gine outfit  is  that  shown  in  »Fig.  66,  and 
built  by  Messrs.  Robey  &  Co.,  of  Lin- 
coln, England.  The  engine  in  this  case 
also  works  on  the  vaporizer  system,  oil 
being  injected  under  pressure  into  an 
annular  vaporizer  chamber,  heated  only 
by  the  heat  of  combustion  in  the  work- 
ing cylinder.  The  governor  also  acts 
by  determining  whether  the  supply  of  oil 
shall  go  into  the  vaporizer  or  back  into 
the  oil  supply  tank.  A  heavy  oil  of 
about  0.85  specific  gravity  is  used,  with 
a  flashing  point  of  about  243  degrees 
Fahrenheit.  The  water  tank  contains 
sufficient  water  for  circulation  through 
the  engine  cylinder  jacket  for  a  whole 
day,  and  the  oil  tank  is  made  large 
enough  to  hold  a  week's  supply  of  oil. 
Robey  &  Co.  make  also  a  semi-portable 
engine  of  the  same  general  design. 


i88 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.    64. — PORTABLE   HORNSBY-AKROYD   OIL    ENGINE,    BUILT    BY    RICHARD    HORNSBY    &    SON,   GRANT- 
HAM,    ENGLAND. 


One  of  the  American  engines  which 
has  made  rapid  progress  during  the  past 
few  years  is  that  built  by  the  Van  Duzen 
Gas  and  Gasoline  Engine  Company,  ol 
Cincinnati,  O.,  and  of  which  a  number 
of  different  forms  are  shown.  Altogether 
this  company  turns  out  seven  styles  : 
a  simple  stationary  gas  engine,  a 
stationary  gas  and  gasoline  engine  com- 
bined, a  stationary  gasoline  engine,  a 
portable  gasoline  engine,  a  stationary 
gas  engine  and  pump  combined,  a 
stationary  gasoline  engine  and  pump 
combined,  and  a  portable  gasoline 
engine  and  pump  combined.  The  gas 
and  gasoline  engine  combined,  as 
will  be  understood,  may  be  used 
with  gas  alone,  but  has  a  gasoline 
apparatus  attached  to  prevent  any 
delays  in  operation  should  the  gas  sup-' 


ply  suddenly  fail.  The  portable  gaso- 
line engine  is  mounted  on  trucks,  as  the 
illustration  shows,  and  may  be  used 
for  driving  threshing  machines,  hay 
presses,  etc.  The  gas  and  gasoline  en- 
gines and  pumps  combined,  both 
stationary  and  portable,  need  no  special 
explanation  as  to  the  uses  to  which  they 
are  to  be  put ;  the  name  sufficiently  in- 
dicates the  purposes  to  which  they  can 
be  applied.  In  addition  to  the  types 
already  mentioned,  the  company  also 
build  a  marine  engine  which  appears  to 
have  met  with  much  favor. 

From  the  illustration  of  the  horizontal 
stationary  engine,  Fig.  67,  it  will  be 
observed  that  the  cylinder,  water  jacket 
and  pillow-blocks  are  all  cast  in  one 
piece,  and  are  supported  by  a  cast-iron 
base.  The  four  and  five  horse-power 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


189 


engines  carry  one  balance  wheel,  but 
those  from  seven  horse-power  up  carry 
two  such  wheels.  The  four-stroke,  or 
Otto,  cycle  of  operation  is  followed. 
Between  the  cylinder  and  the  base  is  a 
countershaft,  worked  by  spur  gearing 
from  the  crank  shaft.  On  one  end  of 
this  countershaft  is  mounted  a  cam  for 
operating  the  exhaust  valve,  and  on  the 
other  end  are  cams  for  similarly  work- 


into  such  a  position  that  the  toe  A  will 
come  in  contact  with  it  as  soon  as  the 
rocker  arm,  marked  4,  is  raised.  This 
arm  begins  to  raise  when  the  piston  is 
at  the  end  of  its  in-stroke,  or  when  it  is 
in  the  same  position  as  that  shown  in 
Fig.  69.  The  cam  marked  i,  it  will  be 
noticed,  is  first  about  to  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  cam  roller  5  and  the 
rocker  arm  4.  When  it  actually  comes 


FIG.   66. — PORTABLE  OIL  ENGINE,   BUILT   BY   R.OBEY  &  CO.,   LINCOLN,   ENGLAND. 


ing  the  admission  and  ignition  valves. 
The  valves  all  are  of  the  poppet  type, 
and  their  stems  are  fitted  with  long 
guides.  Figs.  69  and  70,  which  repre- 
sent, respectively,  side  and  end  eleva- 
tions of  the  engine,  will  help  to  explain 
the  functions  of  the  main  parts. 

To  begin  with,  if  the  engine  be  below 
its  normal  speed,  the  governor  rod  D 
will  allow  the  vibrating  stem  B  to  drop 


in  contact  with  it  and  raises  the  arm  4, 
the  toe  A  will  be  depressed,  come  in 
contact  with  the  valve  stem  B,  and  open 
the  admission  valve  C.  By  the  time 
that  the  crank  has  come  into  the  posi- 
tion B,  corresponding  to  the  end  of  the 
out-stroke  of  the  piston,  the  valve  C  is 
again  shut.  The  cams  i  and  3,  work- 
ing, respectively,  the  admission  and  the 
exhaust  valves,  are  so  designed  as  to 


1 90 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


effect  quick  opening  and  shutting  of 
valves,  and  also  to  keep  them  wide 
open  during  a  large  portion  of  the  pis- 
ton travel. 

During  the  next  half- revolution  of 
the  crank,  from  the  position  B  back 
again  to  the  position  A,  the  mixture  in 
the  cylinder  of  the  engine  is  com- 
pressed, and  as  the  crank  passes  the 
inner  centre,  the  cam,  marked  2,  comes 
in  contact  with  the  lower  end  of  the 
two-armed  lever  E,  and  though  it  opens 


the  other  end  of  the  cam  shaft  opens 
the  exhaust  valve,  and  allows  it  to  close 
again  when  the  crank  finally  resumes  its 
initial  position  A.  This  completes  a 
full  working  cycle,  and  everything  is 
then  in  readiness  to  resume  the  same 
series  of  operations. 

The  end  elevation,  Fig.  70,  shows, 
among  other  things,  a  vertical  section 
of  the  carburettor.  It  consists  of  an 
iron  casing  with  an  inner  tube  through 
which  the  air  necessary  for  the  work- 


FIG.    67. — STATIONARY   ENGINE,    UUILT     BY    THE    VAN    DUZEN    GAS    AND    GASOLINE    ENGINE  CO.,    CIN- 
CINNATI,  OHIO. 


the  ignition  valve  N.  The  opening  ot 
this  valve  allows  part  of  the  explosive 
mixture  from  the  cylinder  to  pass  up 
into  the  ignition  tube  O.  On  the  end 
of  this  tube  is  a  ball  H  which  is  said  to 
serve  as  a  cushion,  and  to  dispose  of 
the  waste  gases  which  accumulate  in  the 
ignition  tube.  The  mixture,  being 
ignited,  again  forces  the  piston  forward, 
bringing  the  crank  once  more  into  the 
position  B.  By  this  time  the  cam  3  on 


ing  charge  enters.  On  top  of  this 
inner  tube  is  seated  a  flange  valve.  As 
the  air  enters,  it  necessarily  raises  this 
valve  which,  in  turn,  raises  the  fluted 
stem  of  the  check  valve  above  it. 
The  gasoline  is  in  the  chamber  above 
this  valve,  and  as  soon  as  the  valve  is 
lifted  the  gasoline  flows  down  inside  the 
flange  valve  and  out  through  the  late- 
rally disposed  holes,  as  indicated  by  the 
arrows.  Thence  the  Qfasoline  flows 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


191 


FIG.  68  — PORTABLE  VAN  DUZEN  ENGINE. 


over  the  edges  of  the  air  valve  and  is 
caught  up  by  the  air  current  flowing 
downward  through  the  inner  chamber 
and  through  a  number  of  gauze  rings, 
being  vaporized  on  its  way.  It  will  be 
observed  that  no  gasoline  is  allowed  to 
enter  the  carburettor  until  the  engine 
calls  for  it.  From  the  carburettor  the 
mixture  goes  immediately  to  the  cylin- 
der through  the  admission  valve. 
Should  any  premature  explosions  occur, 
they  would  have  to  take  place  in  the 
carburettor,  and  this  is  made  strong 
enough  to  withstand  them.  As  soon  as 
the  admission  valve  on  the  engine 
cylinder  is  closed,  the  air  valve  in  the 
carburettor  drops  back  on  its  seat,  thus, 
in  turn,  allowing  the  gasoline  check 
valve  to  drop  back  also,  and  effect- 
ively shutting  off  the  gasoline  supply. 
The  gasoline  tank  necessarily  is  placed 
above  the  level  of  the  top  of  the  car- 
burettor in  order  to  allow  the  gasoline 
to  flow  to  the  latter  by  gravity. 


The  main  features  of  the  governor 
with  which  the  engine  is  supplied  are 
shown  in  the  side  elevation.  The 
governor  is  worked  from  the  crank- 
shaft by  intermediate  gear  wheels,  and 
can  be  set  to  run  at  any  desired  speed. 
Changes  of  speed  can  be  easily  and 
quickly  made. 

Another  engine  of  American  design, 
more  recently  put  on  the  market,  is  the 
Sintz  engine,  shown  in  Fig.  81,  and 
built  by  the  Sintz  Gas  Engine  Com- 
pany, of  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.  It  is  of 
the  vertical  type  and  is  turned  out  both 
for  gas  and  gasoline  use.  When  gas- 
oline is  to  be  employed,  the  engine  is 
provided  with  a  small  pump  and  is  con- 
nected with  a  gasoline  supply  tank  con- 
veniently located.  The  operation  of 
the  engine  is  substantially  as  follows  :. 
When  the  piston  makes  its  first  up- 
ward stroke  of  the  working  cycle,  it 
draws  a  charge  of  air  into  the  crank 
casing  with  which,  as  will  be  noticed,. 


192 


GASSIER 'S  MAGAZINE. 


the  engine  is  fitted.  On  the  following 
downstroke,  and  when  near  the  end  of 
its  stroke,  the  piston  passes  a  port  in 
the  side  of  the  cylinder  which  com- 
municates with  the  crank  chamber. 
Just  as  the  piston  begins  to  open  this 
port,  the  small  gasoline  pump  (when 
gasoline  is  used)  begins  its  downward 
or  discharge  stroke,  causing  the  gaso- 
line to  pass  into  the  port  in  the  form  of 
fine  spray,  and  it  finishes  its  stroke  at 
the  same  time  that  the  main  piston 


this  time  performing  a  working  stroke. 
On  reaching  the  end  of  this  stroke  an 
exhaust  port  is  uncovered,  about  op- 
posite the  transfer  port  already  men- 
tioned, and  the  waste  gases  are  enabled 
to  escape  before  the  fresh  charge  is 
transferred  to  the  cylinder.  The  de- 
sign is  such  that  an  impulse,  or  explo- 
sion, takes  place  at  every  revolution 
while  gasoline  or  gas  is  supplied.  The 
supply  of  the  oil  or  gas  is  controlled  by 
the  governor  by  its  action  on  either  the 


FIG.   69.— SIDE   ELEVATION   OF   A   HORIZONTAL   VAN   DUZEN    ENGINE. 


completes  its  downward  stroke.  In  the 
meantime  the  air,  which  has  been 
slightly  compressed  in  the  crank  cham- 
ber, is  rushing  through  the  port,  and  is 
deflected  to  the  top  of  the  cylinder, 
carrying  the  gasoline  with  it,  and  form- 
ing an  explosive  mixture. 

The  piston,  on  its  next  upward 
stroke,  compresses  the  charge  in  the 
upper  end  of  the  cylinder  where  it  is 
ignited  electrically  at  the  proper  mo- 
ment and  drives  the  piston  down  again, 


gasoline  pump  or  on  the  gas  valve,  de- 
pending upon  the  kind  of  fluid  used. 

A  special  marine  engine  outfit  is  made 
by  the  builders,  the  engine  itself  being 
of  substantially  the  same  design  as  that 
shown.  Both  the  marine  and  the 
stationary  engines  are  made  in  sizes  of 
from  one  to  fifteen  horse-power. 

The  "Forward"  gas  engine,  an 
English  design,  built  by  Messrs.  T.  B. 
Barker  &  Co.  of  Birmingham,  is  shown 
in  Figs.  76  and  77,  the  former  repre- 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


193 


seating  the  type  followed  in  engines  up 
to  nine  horse-power,  having  a  single 
fly-wheel,  wrhile  the  latter  shows  an  en- 
gine with  two  fly-wheels  of  the  kind 
turned  out  in  sizes  of  from  twelve  to 
twenty  horse-power.  The  engine  fol- 
lows the  Otto  cycle  in  its  operation, 
working  ordinarily,  with  one  explosion 
in  every  two  revolutions,  the  number 


the  bulk  or  complexity  of  the  engine, 
at  the  same  time  answering  its  purpose 
admirably,  and  making  the  engine  as 
easy  to  handle  as  an  ordinary  steam 
engine.  A  sectional  view  of  this  start- 
ing gear  is  given  in  Fig.  79  The 
method  of  operation  of  the  attachment 
is  extremely  simple. 

Gas   is   allowed    to    blow    into    and 


FIG.    70. — END   ELEVATION   OF   VAN   DUZEN   ENGINE. 


of  explosions,  however,  being  reduced, 
as  in  many  other  engines,  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  governor  when  the  engine  is 
running  with  a  light  load.  The  prin- 
cipal feature  of  interest  in  the  engine  is 
the  application,  to  the  larger  sizes,  of  a 
starting  gear  invented  by  Mr.  F.  W. 
Lanchester,  and  which  adds  nothing  to 

3—21 


through  the  cylinder  until  an  explosive 
mixture  is  created  within  it,  the  condi- 
tion of  the  mixture  being  judged  by  the 
color  of  the  flame  produced  by  allow- 
ing it  to  blow  through  an  external  pilot 
jet.  At  the  right  moment  the  gas  is 
shut  off  and  the  flame  strikes  back 
through  the  blow-off  cock,  causing  an 


i94 


CASS1EKS  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.    71.— LARGE   SIZE   VERTICAL   VAN   DUZEN   ENGINE. 


explosion  which  starts  the  engine.  The 
back  stroke  of  the  piston  exhausts  the 
gases,  and  the  next  stroke  draws  in  a 
charge  in  the  usual  way  ;  it  also  sucks 
in  the  pilot  flame  through  the  blow-off 
cock,  and  fires  the  charge,  the  engine 
thus  temporarily  working  on  the 
Lenoir  cycle,  explained  in  the  first 
paper,  with  an  explosion  at  each  revolu- 
tion. Under  these  conditions  a  speed 
of  1 20  revolutions  per  minute  is  gained 
in  a  few  seconds.  A  certain  speed, 
less  than  120  revolutions,  however,  is 
needed  to  insure  a  compressed  charge 


exploded  by  an  incandescent  tube. 
When  the  requisite  speed  is  attained, 
the  blow-off  is  closed,  and  the  cam  set  to 
exhaust  every  second  revolution  ;  the 
engine  then  works  compressively  and 
fires  its  charge  from  the  hot  tube.  In 
the  diagram  j  is  the  gas  nozzle,  f  the 
blow-through  cock  containing  a  lightly 
loaded  non-return  valve  which  closes  at 
the  explosion,  d  the  outlet,  c  the  pilot 
flame,  h  the  gas  pipe,  e  the  exhaust 
valve,  and  m  the  exhaust  cam. 

It  is  interesting   to   note  that  besides 
having  been  applied  to  the  ' '  Forward 


MODERN    GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


195 


gas  engines  for  some  time  past,  the  ap- 
paratus has  also  been  used  with  success 
on  engines  of  other  makers. 

The  Trent  gas  engine,  shown  in  per- 
spective in  Fig.  72,  is  a  single  acting 
engine,  receiving  one  impulse  for  every 
revolution,  and  is  made  by  the  Trent 
Gas  Engine  Company,  Limited,  of 
Nottingham,  England.  Sectional  views 
of  the  cylinder  are  given  in  Fig.  75. 
The  cylinder,  as  shown,  is  of  two  differ- 


then  ignited.  The  resulting  explosion 
drives  the  piston  outward,  and  the 
acquired  momentum  of  the  fly-wheel 
performs  the  next  instroke.  The  valves 
are  worked  by  cams  on  the  crankshaft, 
and  the  gas  supply  is  regulated  by  a 
hit-and:miss  device  controlled  by  a 
centrifugal  governor.  Firing  of  the 
gas  and  air  charge  is  effected  by  a  tube 
igniter.  The  engine  is  built  in  sizes  of 
from  one-half  to  100  horse-power,  and 


FIG.    72.— THE   TRENT   GAS   ENGINE,    BUILT   BY   THE   TRENT   GAS   ENGINE   CO.,   NOTTINGHAM,   ENGLAND. 


ent  diameters  and  contains  the  double- 
headed  piston  B  D.  When  this 
piston  makes  its  outstroke,  gas  and 
air  are  drawn  in  through  a  simple 
steel  valve  E.  On  the  instroke  of 
the  piston  this  valve  is  closed  me- 
chanically and  the  mixture  of  gas 
and  air  is  forced  through  the  valve 
O  into  the  explosion  chamber  M, 
where  it  is  compressed,  driving  be- 
fore it  the  exhaust  gases  remaining 
from  the  previous  explosion  which 
escape  through  the  valve  R,  and  is 


has  done  some  good  work   in  electric 
lighting. 

A  gas  engine,  somewhat  unusual  in 
appearance,  reminding  one  of  a  steeple 
compound  steam  engine,  is  made  by 
the  Hicks  Gas  Engine  Works,  of  Cleve- 
land, O.,  and  is  shown  in  Fig.  80. 
The  two  cylinders  are  set  in  line,  one 
above  the  other,  and  are  arranged  to 
work  alternately,  so  that  practically 
there  is  one  effective  impulse  for  every 
revolution  of  the  crankshaft,  the  Otto 
working  cycle  being  followed  in  each 


196 


GASSIER 'S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.    73. — THE   ROCKET   PETROLEUM   ENGINE,    BUILT  BY  ROBERT  STEPHENSON  &  CO.,  NEWCASTLE,  ENGLAND 


cylinder.  Compared  with  a  single  cyl- 
inder gas  engine,  therefore,  we  find  in 
this  case,  for  the  same  sets  of  con- 


der  and  its  piston.  Another  advantage 
of  the  two  alternately  working  cylinders 
is  found  in  the  circumstance  that  the 
weight  of  the  fly-wheel  may  be  reduced 
considerably  without  unfavorably  affect- 
ing the  regular  running  of  the  engine. 
The  design  and  construction  of  the 
engine  are  very  simple  and  call  for  little 
explanation.  The  illustration,  in  fact, 
tells  almost  the  whole  story. 

The  amount  of  the  explosive  charge 
admitted  to  the  cylinders  is  controlled 
by  a  governor  as  in  a  steam  engine. 


FIG     75. — SECTIONAL   VIEWS   OF   THE   TRENT   ENGINE. 


ditions,  that  the  power  of  the  engine  is 
doubled,  while  the  additional  weight 
consists  only  of  the  weight  of  one  cylin- 


the  governor  either  throttling  the  sup- 
ply or  opening  the  valve  wide,  accord- 
ing to  the  demand  for  power.  All  the 


MODERN  GAS  AND   OIL   ENGINES. 


197 


valves  used  are  of  the  lift  type.  The 
exhaust  valves,  shown  on  the  left  of  the 
cylinders,  are  worked  by  rods  and  tap- 
pets, and  these,  in  turn,  are  moved  by 
suitable  cams  carried  on  a  small  shaft 
in  back  of  the  engine  frame.  The  cam 
shaft  is  driven  from  the  main  shaft 
through  intervening  gear  wheels  of 
such  diameters  that  its  speed  is  reduced 


Robert  Stephenson  &  Co.  of  Newcastle- 
on-Tyne,  England,  under  the  patents 
of  E.  Kaselowsky.  The  engine  works 
on  the  well-known  four  stroke  cycle. 
The  governing  arrangement  is  such 
that  the  supply  of  explosive  vapor  is 
entirely  cut  off  when  the  speed  of  the 
engine  runs  above  the  normal,  and  with 
the  exercise  of  the  governor  in  this  way 


FIG.  74.— END  VIEW  OF  "ROCKET"   OIL  ENGINE. 


one-half.  Gasoline  as  well  as  gas 
may  be  used  in  operating  the  engine, 
the  former,  however,  naturally  calling 
for  the  addition  of  a  carburetting  ap- 
paratus of  some  kind. 

A  petroleum  engine,  which  by  its 
name  as  by  its  builders,  recalls  the 
early  days  of  the  locomotive,  is  shown 
in  Figs.  73  and  74.  It  is  called  the 
"Rocket,"  and  is  made  by  Messrs. 


a  lever  acts  simultaneously  to  relieve 
the  compression  of  the  waste  gases  in 
the  cylinder,  thus  helping  to  make  the 
speed  more  regular.  Sufficient  oil  for 
a  day's  work  can  be  stored  in  a  tank 
fixed  above  the  cylinder,  from  which  it 
is  allowed  to  flow  by  gravity  into  a 
lower  receiver.  In  this  latter  there  is 
a  float  regulating  the  supply.  The 
firing  of  the  charge  is  effected  by  an 


198 


GASSIER  >S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.    77. — DOUBLE   FLY-WHEEL    "FORWARD"    E-NGINE. 


FIG.  76.— THE  "FORWARD"  ENGINE,  BUILT  BY  T.  B.  BARKER  &  co.,  BIRMINGHAM,  ENGLAND. 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


199 


The   sprayed    oil    is    converted  into 
vapor  in  its  downward  travel  through 


FIG.    78. — VERTICAL    "FORWARD"    ENGINE. 


ignition  tube  with  a  timing  valve  worked 
by  the  lever  I  and  cam  O.  Compres- 
sion in  the  cylinder  is  diminished  by 
keeping  the  exhaust  open  when  the 
engine  is  being  started,  and  one  man 
can,  therefore,  easily  turn  the  engine 
over.  The  oil  used  is  ordinary  lamp 
oil. 

From  the  oil  tank  A  the  oil,  as  just 
stated,  flows  to  the  lower  receiver  B, 
and  from  the  latter  it  passes  through 
the  regulator  and  into  the  top  of  the 
vaporizer  E.  In  this  the  oil  is  sprayed 
by  an  air  current  and  passes  through 
tubes  in  the  vaporizer,  which  forms  an 
enlargement  of  the  exhaust  pipe.  The 
bottom  of  the  vaporizer  is  heated  by  a 
lamp  flame  for  starting,  but  after  the 
engine  is  once  in  operation  the  exhaust 
gases  perform  the  heating.  The  main 
air  admission  pipe  is  marked  F  and  is 
provided  with  a  regulating  cock,  F1. 
Air  is  also  admitted  to  the  vaporizer 
through  the  pipe  D,  which,  similarly, 
has  a  regulating  valve. 


FIG.  79.—  LANCHKSTER'S  STARTING  GEAR. 


FIG.    So.— THE    HICKS     GAS    ENGINE,    BUILT 
HICKS  GAS   ENGINE  WORKS,   CLEVELAND, 


BY    THE 
OHIO. 


200 


CASS/£X'S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.   8l. — THE   SINTZ   ENGINE,    KUILT   BY   THE   SINTZ   GAS   ENGINE   COMPANY, 
GRAND   RAPIDS,    MICH. 


the  vaporizer,  and,  in  addition  to  the 
air  of  the  spraying  current,  takes  in  a 
further  supply  through  the  pipe  D.  It 
then  passes  into  the  pipe  issuing  from 
the  bottom  of  the  vaporizer  and  joins 
the  main  air  inlet  pipe  at  a  point  above 
the  cock  F1.  From  this  point  it  finds 
its  way  into  the  cylinder  of  the  engine 
through  a  valve,  G,  controlled  by  the 
governor  H,  trip  P  and  notch  piece  N. 
When  the  engine  runs  too  fast  the 
spindle  of  the  admission  valve  G  is 


missed,  and  another  valve,  not  shown 
in  the  illustration,  is  opened  to  allow 
the  gas  contents  of  the  cylinder  to 
escape.  The  exhaust  valve  lever  is 
shown  at  J  ;  W  and  W1  are  water  cir- 
culating pipes  for  the  cylinder  jacket, 
and  X  is  the  exhaust  pipe.  The  ig- 
nition tube  is  surrounded  by  a  case,  K, 
and  L  is  the  oil  and  air  admission  pipe 
for  the  heating  flame.  The  engine  is 
made  in  sizes  of  from  one  to  ten  horse- 
power. 


(To  be  continued. ) 


MODERN  GAS  AND  OIL  ENGINES 


By  Albert  Spies,  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M.  E. 
$ixth 


VER  since  the  first  practical 
utilization  of  gas  and  oil 
engines  and  the  satis- 
factory demonstration  of 
their  applicability  to 
general  power  purposes, 
builders  of  such  engines 
have  sought  to  cultivate 
special  fields  in  which  to 
secure  new  employment 
for  the  motors  and,  as  a 
consequence,  they  are 
found  at  the  present  time 
performing  the  widest 
variety  of  services.  Not 
only  as  stationary,  but 
also  as  portable  engines, 
mounted  on  trucks,  for 
agricultural  purposes,  as  fire  engines, 
pumping  engines  capable  of  being 
rapidly  taken  from  place  to  place, 
as  locomotive  engines  driving  road 
carriages,  and  as  marine  engines  for 
propelling  launches,  as  instanced  re- 
peatedly in  the  preceding  papers, 
they  are  successfully  used.  In  fact, 
there  is  no  line  of  work  that  can  be 
readily  called  to  mind  in  which  they 
are  not  now  either  successfully  operated, 
or  to  which  they  do  not  promise  to 
lend  themselves  with  satisfaction.  They 
are  no  longer  the  clattering,  noisy 
engines  of  early  years,  nor  have  they 
retained  the  excessive  bulk  and  great 
weight  for  even  moderate  powers 
which  characterized  some  of  them  when 
first  brought  out ;  instead,  they  have 
been  made  surprisingly  quiet  in 
operation,  and  in  size  and  weight  have 
been  brought  down  almost  to  the 
figures  ruling  in  steam  engine  practice, 
so  that,  for  the  same  powers,  a  modern 
gas  or  oil  engine  and  an 'average  steam 
engine  are  not  very  unlike. 

Among  the  many  oil  engines  which 


probably  first  became  best  known  in 
the  United  States  as  specially  applicable 
to  launch  propulsion  is  the  Daimler 
motor,  built  in  this  country  by  the 
Daimler  Motor  Company,  of  Steinway, 
Long  Island  City,  N.  Y.,  and  intro- 
duced also  in  England  by  Messrs. 
Sims  &  Co.,  of  London.  The  engine 
is  designed  for  the  use  of  either  gas  or 
gasoline,  and  is  the  invention  of  Mr. 
Gottlieb  Daimler,  of  Cannstatt,  Ger- 
many, who  for  many  years  was  asso- 
ciated with  the  late  Dr.  Otto.  It  is  by 
no  means,  however,  restricted  to  launch 
use,  but  is  applicable  to  all  the  several 
motor  purposes  for  which  the  various 
engines  of  its  class  have  been  employed. 
Figs.  82  and  83  represent  different 
views  of  a  single-cylinder  Daimler 
motor,  while  Fig.  84  shows  a  double- 
cylinder  design,  the  motor,  it  being 
proper  to  state  here,  being  made  with 
one  or  more  cylinders  according  to  the 
power  required.  Thus,  while  the 
smaller  sizes  are  of  the  single  and 
double-cylinder  designs  here  illustrated, 
the  five  and  ten-horse-power  engines 
have  four  cylinders  placed  side  by 
side. 

The  principle  of  operation,  however, 
and  the  main  features  of  construction 
are  the  same  in  all  the  engines.  For 
the  purpose  of  our  explanation  of  the 
manner  of  working  we  will  take  the 
single-cylinder  engine,  the  cycle  of 
operations  applying  equally  well  to  all 
the  others,  being  simply  multiplied  in 
number  with  the  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  working  cylinders.  Fig.  87 
represents  a  vertical  section  of  one  of 
the  engines  along  the  line  of  the  shaft 
and  clearly  illustrates  the  character  of 
the  internal  construction,  the  valve  me- 
chanism, governor  connection  and  other 
important  working  details.  Within'the 

293 


294 


CASSIER'S   MAGAZINE. 

X 


R 


FIG.    52.  — SINGLE   CYLINDER   MOTOR,    BUILT   BY   THE   DAIMLER   MOTOR 
COMPANY,    NEW   YORK. 


base  of  the  motor,  which  consists  of  a 
cast  iron  circular  chamber,  are  arranged 
two  crank  discs,  mounted  upon  the  two 
sections  of  the  main  shaft  and  connected 
by  the  crank  pin,  the  crank  discs  serv- 
ing also  the  purpose  of  fly  wheels.  In 
one  of  the  discs  is  formed  a  double  cam 
groove  which  passes  twice  around  the 
crank-shaft  and  returns  into  itself.  In 
this  cam  groove  works  a  follower,  or 
two  followers  in  the  case  of  a  double- 
cylinder  engine  (see  Fig.  85),  operating 
the  exhaust  valve  gear  so  as  to  make 
every  other  stroke  a  working  stroke, 
and  thus  maintaining  the  Otto  cycle. 
When  two  or  more  cylinders  are  used, 


they  are  arranged  either  parallel  with 
one  another,  or  they  are  inclined  so  as 
to  form  a  slight  angle.  In  the  double- 
cylinder  engine  both  connecting  rods 
work  on  the  same  crank  pin,  and  both 
pistons,  therefore,  move  up  and  down 
together  ;  but  on  the  down-stroke  one 
of  them  is  always  moving  under  the 
impulse  of  an  explosion,  while  the  other 
is  drawing  a  working  charge  into  its 
cylinder,  and  on  the  up-stroke  one  of 
them  is  always  expelling  the  waste 
gases,  while  the  other  is  compressing  a 
charge.  Ordinarily,  therefore,  there  is 
in  the  double-cylinder  engine  an  explo- 
sion in  either  one  or  the  other  cylinder 


MODERN  GAS  AND   OIL   ENGINES. 


295 


at  every  revolution  of  the  crank-shaft. 
In  the  engine  as  arranged  for  work- 
ing with  gasoline,  A  (see  Fig.  82)  is  the 
carburetor ;  O  is  the  exhaust  pipe 
which  is  provided  with  a  perforated 
casing  through  which  the  air  is  drawn 
on  its  way  to  the  carburetor,  becomes 
warmed  before  it  reaches  the  latter,  and 
is  thus  better  able  to  become  impreg- 


a  platinum  ignition  tube  C.  With  this 
ignition  tube  heated  to  redness  and  a 
few  turns  given  to  the  engine  by  means 
of  the  crank  handle  S  to  draw  in  the 
initial  working  charges,  the  engine  will 
proceed  regularly  with  its  work.  A 
vertical  section  of  the  cylinder,  valves 
and  crank  chamber  is  given  in  Fig.  86. 
The  admission  valve  is  held  to  its  seat 


FIG.    83.— SINGLE-CYLINDER   DAIMLER   MOTOR,    WITH   COOLING 
WATER  CIRCULATING  PUMP. 


nated  with  gasoline  vapor.  From  the 
carburetor  the  mixture  goes  through 
the  valve  H  which  also  admits  an  addi- 
tional air  supply  through  the  open-end, 
curved  pipe,  shown  at  the  left,  and  the 
charge  finally  reaches  the  valve  chamber. 
The  small  valve  F  regulates  the  supply 
of  gasoline  to  the  burner  D  which  heats 


by  a  spring  and  opens  inward  under  the 
influence  of  the  partial  vacuum  formed 
in  the  cylinder  by  the  suction  stroke  of 
the  piston .  The  exhaust  valve  is  simi- 
larly kept  closed  by  a  spring  while  the 
admission  valve  is  open,  and  is  pushed 
upward  and  opened  to  permit  escape  of 
the  waste  gases  from  the  cylinder  at  the 


296 


CASS/EjR'S  MAGAZINE. 


proper  time  by  the  exhaust  valve  rod 
which  is%  operated,  as  previously  re- 
marked, by  the  follower  working  in  the 
cam  groove  in  one  of  the  crank  discs. 
The  governor  arrangement  is  exceed- 
ingly neat  and  simple.  The  governor, 
it  will  be  seen,  is  mounted  inside  the 
driving  pulley  on  the  crank-shaft,  and 
by  means  of  a  sliding  collar  controls  the 
position  of  a  centrally  pivoted  rod. 
When  the  speed  of  the  engine  rises  above 
the  normal,  the  governor  weights  move 


charge  of  explosive  mixture  can  obviously 
not  enter.  No  impulse  can,  therefore, 
take  place  in  the  cylinder  until  the  speed 
has  become  slower  and  the  exhaust  valve 
rod  has  been  allowed  by  the  governing 
gear  to  resume  its  original  position  where 
it  can  strike  the  exhaust  valve  spindle 
and  open  the  valve. 

The  pipe  R,  Figs.  82  and  83,   is  one 


FIGS.    84    AND    85.— PERSPECTIVE    VIEW   AND    ELEVATION     OF    DOUBLE-CYLINDER    DAIMLER    MOTOR. 


outward,  carry  the  sliding  collar  along 
the  shaft,  and  deflect  the  upper  end  of 
the  pivoted  rod  which  comes  in  contact 
with  the  upper,  jointed  end  of  the  ex- 
haust valve  rod  and  turns  it  to  one  side. 
In  this  position  the  exhaust  valve  rod, 
on  its  upward  stroke,  misses  the  exhaust 
valve  spindle,  passing  to  one  side  of  it, 
and  the  exhaust  valve  consequently  is 
not  opened,  the  waste  gases  cannot 
escape  from  the  cylinder,  and  a  new 


of  the  water  circulating  pipes  delivering 
cooling  water  from  a  small  pump,  marked 
2,  to  the  jacket  Q  around  the  cylinder, 
another  pipe  returning  the  water,  which 
may  be  used  over  and  over  again,  to  a 
tank  marked  i.  Where  some  other 
source  of  water  supply  is  available,  the 
tank  and  pump  may,  of  course,  be  dis- 
pensed with.  In  fact  the  design  shown 
in  Fig.  83  is  now  but  little  used.  With 
the  pump  and  tank  attachment,  however, 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


297 


FIG.  86. — A  DAIMLER  MOTOR  LAUNCH. 


the  motor  is  entirely  self-contained  and 
can  be  used  anywhere,  without  depend- 
ence upon  either  gas  or  water  mains. 
The  tank  I,  Fig.  82,  serves  for  gasoline 
storage  and  can  be  conveniently  located, 
outside  of  the  building  if  desirable. 

A  float  index  E  on  the  carburetor  A, 
indicates  the  level  of  the  gasoline  within. 
When  the  carburetor  is  completely 
charged,  the  supply  will  last  about  five 
hours.  Where  the  reserve  tank  I  is 
applicable  it  will  be  necessary  to  charge 
the  outfit  only  once  a  day  for  a  running 
time  of  ten  hours.  When  gas  is  avail- 
able the  carburetor  and  reserve  tank 
naturally  are  done  away  with,  and  the 
engine  assumes  a  somewhat  simpler 
appearance,  as  shown,  for  example,  in 
the  illustration  of  the  double-cylinder 
motor.  The  single  cylinder  design  is 
followed  for  sizes  up  to  one  horse-power  ; 
beyond  that,  two  and  four  cylinders  are 
employed.  In  the  four-cylinder  engines, 
and  also  in  some  of  the  two-cylinder 
engines  as  built  in  Germany,  the  cam- 
groove  exhaust  valve  gear  as  here  de- 
scribed is  not  used,  but  in  its  place  a 
separate  cam  shaft,  driven  by  gearing 


from  the  main  shaft  is  employed.  The 
general  features  of  design  and  the  manner 
o'f  working  are,  however,  exactly  the 
same.  When  used  for  boat  propulsion, 
the  motor  is  generally  completely  boxed 
in  so  as  to  protect  it  against  the  weather, 
and  is  fitted  with  a  suitable  reversing  gear. 
Being  of  German  origin,  the  engines 
having  first  been  built  by  the  Daimler 
Motoren  Gesellschaft,  of  Cannstatt, 
which  is  still  making  them,  it  is  only 
natural  that  in  Germany  and  in  Europe 
generally  we  should  find  the  motor 
applied  most  extensively  and  to  the 
widest  variety  of  uses.  At  Stuttgart, 
for  example,  it  is  in  successful  operation 
in  propelling  a  street  car.  It  has  also 
been  applied  on  some  of  the  German 
railroads  to  driving  small  inspection  cars, 
similar  to  the  familiar  hand  cars,  and  has 
similarly  found  favor  for  the  propulsion 
of  road  carriages,  quadricycles  and  even 
bicycles,  not  to  mention  the  large  num- 
ber of  pleasure  boats  which  are  equipped 
with  it.  The  English  firm  of  Sims  & 
Company,  of  London,  are  actively  prose- 
cuting the  introduction  of  the  motor  into 
British  territory. 


298 


GASSIER' S   MAGAZINE. 


Before  finally  leaving  the  Daimler 
motor  a  little  more  information  concern- 
ing the  carburetor  used  may  not  be 
amiss.  A  sectional  view  of  it,  with  some 
of  its  accessories  is,  therefore,  given  in 
Fig.  89.  The  lower  part  of  the  appa- 
ratus consists  of  a  small  tank  H,  con- 
taining a  float  B,  which  rests  upon  the 
gasoline.  The  float  is  provided  with  a 
central  funnel  which  communicates  with 
the  main  body  of  the  liquid  in  the  tank 
through  a  small  opening  at  the  bottom, 
so  that  while  the  liquid  is  maintained  at 
a  constant  level  in  the  funnel,  it  is  practi- 
cally isolated  from  the  main  body  of  the 
petroleum.  The  float  is  provided  with 
an  air  tube  entering  the  funnel,  and  per- 
forated below  the  surface  of  the  gasoline. 
This  air  tube  slides  freely  in  the  tube  F, 
attached  to  the  cover  of  the  apparatus 
and  acting  as  a  guide,  allowing  the  float 
to  rise  and  fall  according  to  the  supply 
of  gasoline.  Hot  air  is  admitted  to  the 
carburetor  through  the  pipe  attached  to 
the  upper  part  of  the  apparatus,  the  air 
being  heated  in  its  passage  to  the  car- 
buretor by  the  products  of  combustion 
as  already  explained  in  describing  the 
engine  proper.  The  carbureted  air 
passes  through  the  vapor  pipe  in  the 
direction  indicated  by  the  arrow,  and 
unites  with  a  stream  of  air  drawn  into 
the  motor  cylinder  through  the  admission 
valve  at  G.  This  valve  is  provided  with 
a  graduated  scale  which  facilitates  the 
adjustment.  It  has  also  an  automati- 
cally operating  safety  valve.  The  reser- 
voir is  filled  through  a  supply  pipe 
extending  down  to  the  bottom  through 
the  air  tubes  and  float.  The  supply  pipe 
communicates  with  the  lamp  font  p, 
which  furnishes  the  oil  to  the  burner,  by 
means  of  which  the  ignition  tube  is 
heated.  The  time  required  for  heating 
the  latter  and  starting  the  motor  is  in- 
appreciable. The  motor  may  be  stopped 
temporarily  by  shutting  off  the  supply 
of  combustible  gas,  allowing  the  ignition 
tube  burner  to  continue  burning.  For 
a  complete  stop,  however,  the  ignition 
tube  burner  is  extinguished  in  addition 
to  shutting  off  the  gas. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  in- 
geniously designed  gas  engines  put  on 
the  market  by  English  makers  is  the 


Atkinson  differential  engine,  first  brought 
out  eight  or  nine  years  ago  by  the 
British  Gas  Engine  &  Engineering 
Company,  of  London.  The  main  object 


FIG.    Sj. — SECTION    OF    DAIMLER    MOTOR. 

sought  after  in  this  engine  was  to  allow 
the  exploded  charge  to  expand  much 
more  rapidly  than  is  usual  or  possible  in 
most  other  gas  engines,  and  to  thus  be 
in  contact  with  the  relatively  cold  cylin- 


MODERN  GAS  AND   OIL  ENGINES. 


299 


der  walls  for  a  shorter  period  of  time. 
In  this  way,  it  was  agreed,  an  important 
economical  end  is  served. 

The  engine  in  its  earliest  form  is  shown 
diagrammatically  in  Figs.  91  to  94,  from 
which  the  main  peculiarities  of  its  opera- 
tions will  be  more  clearly  understood. 
The  cylinder  in  this  early  design  was 
open  at  each  end  and  had  two  piston^ 
connected  by  curved  levers  and  short 
connecting  rods  to  one  crank  pin.  The 


through  a  port  in  the  cylinder  wall.  The 
crank  pin  was,  at  this  time,  on  the  left, 
and  as  it  proceeded  upward  and  around 
to  the  right,  the  left-hand  piston  moved 
rapidly  away  from  the  other,  leaving  a 
space  between  them  into  which  the  gas 
and  air  mixture  was  drawn  through  a 
self-acting  suction  valve.  When  the 
crank  pin  had  reached  its  highest  posi- 
tion, as  in  Fig.  92,  the  right-hand  piston 
traveled  past  and  closed  the  openings  to 


FIG.  88. — QUADRICYCLE  PROPELLED  BY  A  DAIMLER  MOTOF. 


pistons  both  traveled  in  the  same  direc- 
tion but  at  very  different  speeds.  When 
at  the  outer  end  of  their  stroke,  they 
remained  almost  at  rest  for  nearly  half  a 
revolution  of  the  crank  pin,  but  when  at 
the  inner  end  of  the  stroke  they  traveled 
rapidly.  When  the  pistons  had  com- 
pleted a  stroke  to  the  right,  as  in  Fig. 
91,  they  almost  touched  each  other,  and 
had  driven  out  the  products  of  combus- 
tion of  the  previous  working  stroke 


the  suction  and  exhaust  valves,  and 
during  the  next  quarter  turn  the  pistons 
again  approached  each  other,  compress- 
ing the  explosive  charge  between  them, 
the  crank  pin  by  that  time  being'overat 
the  right-hand  side,  as  in  Fig.  93.  At 
the  moment  of  greatest  compression,  the 
left-hand  piston  passed  an  opening  to  an 
ignition  tube  which  produced  explosion 
of  the  charge,  and  an  immediate,  rapid 
stroke  was  made  by  the  right-hand 


3oo 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


piston  and  was  completed  by  the  time 
the  crank  pin  arrived  at  the  lower 
quarter,  as  in  Fig.  94.  The  exhaust 
port  was  then  opened  by  the  continued 
travel  of  the  piston,  and  the  contents  of 
the  cylinder  were  driven  out  through 
the  self-acting  exhaust  valve  by  the  left- 
hand  piston  which  assumed  the  position 
shown  in  Fig.  91,  the  whole  cycle  being- 


cylinder  becomes  very  low.  It  will  also 
be  observed  that  the  total  expansion  to 
twice  the  original  volume  took  place  in 
a  quarter  revolution  of  the  crank-shaft 
as  compared  with  other  gas  engines 
and  this  expansion  to  double  the  original 
volume  was  accomplished  in  one-fourth 
of  the  time  taken  for  the  same  degree  ot 
expansion  in  other  engines,  assuming 


FIG.   £9.— SECTIONAL   VIEW   OF   THE  CARBURETOR 
USED   WITH   THE   DAIMLER   MOTOR. 


completed  in  one  revolution  of  the  crank- 
shaft. 

The  space  between  the  pistons  into 
which  the  ignited  charge  expanded  was 
nearly  double  the  space  into  which  the 
charge  was  first  drawn  previous  to  ex- 
plosion ;  consequently,  the  expansion 
amounted  to  nearly  twice  the  original 
volume,  and  the  terminal  pressure  at 
which  the  gases  were  expelled  from  the 


the  engine  to  run  at  the  same  speed. 
The  economy  to  be  gained  from  the 
extra  expansion  is  obvious,  while  the 
saving  due  to  the  rapid  motion  of  the 
piston  is  also  beyond  question,  having 
been  conclusively  demonstrated  experi- 
mentally by  a  French  authority,  Pro- 
fessor Witz,  a  number  of  years  ago. 

Without    going    in    detail    into    the 
experiments  made  by  him,    it  may  not 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


301 


FIG.   90.- -ATKINSON'S   MODERN   GAS  ENGINE  AND   AIR   COMPRESSOR  COMBINED. 


be  uninteresting  to  here  briefly  state 
that  in  one  series  of  experiments  he 
used  a  mixture  of  one  volume  of  illumi- 
nating gas  and  6. 33  volumes  of  air — a 
not  unusual  proportion  for  gas  engines. 
This  mixture  was  drawn  into  an  experi- 
mental cylinder  and  exploded,  the 
piston  being  allowed  to  travel  at  the  rate 
of  i .  7  meters  per  second,  corresponding 
to  an  ordinary  piston  speed  in  a  medium- 
sized  gas  engine.  The  actual  amount 
of  work  done  was  estimated  from  a 
diagram  obtained  from  the  cylinder. 
He  then  increased  the  speed  of  the 
piston,  and  found  that  by  allowing  the 
piston  to  move  at  the  rate  of  4. 3  meters 
per  second,  or  2.54  times  as  fast  as 
before,  the  same  amount  of  gas  did  2.9 
times  as  much  actual  work.  This  large 
increase  is  chiefly  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  heat  of  combustion  of  the  gaseous 
mixture  is,  at  the  higher  speed,  not 
allowed  to  continue  so  long  in  contact 
with  the  walls  of  the  cylinder  which  are 
kept  cool  by  the  customary  water  jacket. 
It  has  been  held  that  more  than  one- 
half  of  the  total  heat  in  the  gas,  even  if 


thoroughly  consumed,  is  lost  by  trans- 
mission to  the  water.  If  then  the  work 
is  done  in  one-fourth  of  the  time,  as  in 
the  Atkinson  engine,  three-fourths  of 
this  serious  Joss  must  be  saved,  since 
the  transmission  of  heat  through  metallic 
substances  is  directly  proportionate  to 
the  length  of  time  that  the  differences 
of  temperature  exist ;  hence,  the  great 
increase  of  power  shown  by  Professor 
Witz's  experiments. 

The  engine  in  its  early  form  was  ex- 
tremely simple.  There  were  no  slide- 
valves,  nor  were  there  any  complicated 
substitutes,  the  working  charge  being 
efficiently  controlled  by  the  pistons 
passing  the  ports  to  the  two  self-acting 
valves  and  the  port  to  the  ignition  tube. 
There  were  also  neither  cams  nor 
eccentrics.  In  the  course  of  the  last  few 
years,  however,  the  design  of  the  engine 
has  undergone  some  changes,  so  that 
at  the  present  time  its  appearance  is 
like  that  shown  on  this  page. 

The  ' '  Utilite  ' '  gas  engine,  built  by 
the  same  firm,  was  not  designed  as  a 
rival  to  their  standard  engine,  but 


302 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


simply  as  an  alternative  motor  for 
obtaining  practically  the  same  results 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  to  meet  the 
varied  views  of  buyers  of  gas  engines. 
Perhaps  the  most  distinctive  feature  of 
this  later  engine  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
the  crank  end  is  cased  in  and  the  space 
thus  afforded  is  used  as  an  air  chamber 
whose  supply  serves  to  flush  out  the 
cylinder  after  each  working  stroke, 
the  waste  gases  being  allowed  to  escape 
through  an  opening  in  the  side  of  the 
cylinder  uncovered  by  the  piston  in  its 
travel.  There  is  thus  no  exhaust  valve 
of  the  usual  kind.  After  the  flushing  of 
the  cylinder  has  taken  place,  a  small 
charging  pump  delivers  into  the  firing 
end  of  the  cylinder  a  rich  mixture  of 
fresh  gas  and  air,  the  air  proportion, 
however,  being  insufficient  to  permit 
explosion  until  it  has  been  further  added 
to. 

The  piston,  after  having  made  a 
working  stroke,  returns  and  is  allowed  to 
expel  through  the  exhaust  opening  some 
of  the  cylinder  contents  which,  at  the 
piston  end  of  the  cylinder,  are  made  up 
of  waste  products  of  combustion  or,  per- 
haps, simply  air.  At  about  half  the 
return  stroke,  however,  the  piston  closes 
the  exhaust  opening  or  port,  and  what 
then  remains  in  the  cylinder  is  air  and 
gaseous  mixture  in  more  or  less  defi- 
nitely separate  layers,  the  gas  mixture 
being  in  the  firing  end  of  the  cylinder, 
and  the  air  alone,  in  the  piston  end. 
As  compression  takes  place,  the  air  and 
gas  and  air  mixture  become  more  inti- 
mately mixed  and  by  the  time  the  cylinder 
contents  are  fully  compressed  they  are  in 
a  proper  condition  for  ignition  which  then 
takes  place  ;  a  working  stroke  is  made 
in  this  manner  once  for  every  revolution 
of  the  crank-shaft.  A  small  valve,  in 
addition  to  the  exhaust  opening  in  the 
cylinder  wall,  controlled  by  an  eccentric, 
allows  a  portion  of  the  air  to  be  removed 
from  the  cylinder  before  the  compression 
stroke  is  completed,  so  as  to  leave  only 
about  one-half  the  original  cylinder  con- 
tents shut  up,  which,  after  compression 
and  ignition,  is  allowed  to  expand  to 
double  its  original  volume.  As  a  result, 
the  diagram  from  the  engine  is  prac- 
tically the  same  as  the  diagram  from  the 


regular  Atkinson  engine,  and  the 
economy  of  the  two  is  claimed  to  be 
practically  the  same.  It  is  further 
claimed  for  the  "  Utilite  "  engines  that 
they  combine  great  lightness  with 
rigidity  and  that  they  can  be  run  at  very 
high  speeds  without  heavy  foundations 
and  without  causing  any  trouble  from 
excessive  vibration.  Speeds  as  high  as 
600  revolutions  per  minute  are  claimed 
to  have  been  maintained  with  good  re- 
sults. 

One  of  the  later  types  of  vertical  gas 


FIG.   92. 


FIG.    93 


FIG.   94. 


DIAGRAMS   OF   THE   ATKINSON   DIFFERENTIAL 
KNGINE. 


engines  is  that  made  by  the  Hartig 
Standard  Gas  Engine  Company,  of 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  both  single  and  double 
fly-wheel  designs  being  shown  in  Figs. 
95  and  96.  There  are,  in  all,  four 
valves  in  this  engine, — a  governor  valve, 
automatically  controlling  the  gas  supply 
according  to  the  amount  of  po\ver  re- 
quired, a  lighting  valve,  a  gas  and  air 
admission  valve,  and  an  exhaust  valve. 
The  governor  valve  is  in  the  main  gas 
supply  pipe  and  is  worked  by  the  verti- 
cal rod  sho\vn  at  the  extreme  left  of 
Fig.  95.  The  governor  itself  is  of  the 
shaft  type,  the  centrifugal  force  of  the 
two  weights  being  restrained  by  springs 
attached  to  the  weight  arms  and  to  the 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


303 


weights  in  the  manner  indicated.  With 
increase  in  speed  above  the  normal,  the 
weights  move  outward,  and  revolve  a 
cam,  mounted  on  the  crank-shaft  and 
provided  with  a  helical  groove  and  pin 
arrangement  which  causes  the  cam  to 
slide  in  and  out  along  the  line  of  the 
shaft.  When  moved  inward,  that  is, 


a  decrease  in  speed.  With  the  lower 
speed  the  governor  weights  return  to 
their  original  position,  the  cams  are 
thrown  out  of  contact,  and  the  gas 
supply  valve  is  again  opened. 

The  exhaust  valve  is  worked  by  the 
rod  shown  furthest  to  the  right  in  the 
engraving,  and  receives  motion  from  the 


FIG.   95.— THE   HARTIG   ENGINE,    BUILT    BY    THE   HARTIG 
STANDARD  GAS  ENGINE  COMPANY,  BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


from  left  to  right  in  the  engraving,  the 
cam  comes  in  contact  with  another  and 
smaller  cam,  directly  connected  with  the 
main  gas  valve  rod,  and  causes  the  valve 
to  close  more  or  less,  thus  shutting  oft 
the  gas  supply  or  simply  reducing  its 
volume,  and  consequently  bringing  about 


crank  through  the  intervention  of  two 
gear  wheels,  one  of  which  has  twice  the 
diameter  of  the  other.  The  valve  is 
thus  opened  once  in  every  two  revolu- 
tions, the  engine  working  on  the  Otto 
cycle.  The  valve  rod  connects  with  a 
valve  lifting  arm  pivoted  at  one  end, 


304 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


and,  in  its  upward  motion  striking  the 
valve  spindle  from  below  and  lift- 
ing the  valve  from  its  seat  to  which, 
ordinarily,  it  is  held  by  a  spring. 
The  igniting  valve  at  the  front  of  the 
engine  is  operated  by  a  rod  connected 
with  a  rock  shaft,  mounted  on  the 
engine  frame  as  clearly  shown,  and  re- 
ceiving motion  from  the  crank  shaft 


tial  vacuum  formed  in  the  engine  cylin- 
der during  the  suction  stroke  of  the 
piston,  and  closes  of  its  own  accord 
during  the  compression  period,  remain- 
ing also  closed,  for  obvious  reasons, 
during  the  working  and  exhaust  strokes. 
The  valves  all  are  of  the  lift  type,  insur- 
ing lightness  and  freedom  from  sticking 
and  clogging.  The  engine  is  made  in 


FIG.   96. — HARTIG   DOUBLE   FLY-WHEEL   ENGINE. 


through  a  rocker  arm  and  cam  gearing. 
The  igniting  gas  jet  burns  at  the  side  ot 
this  valve  and,  at  the  moment  of  valve 
opening,  communicates  with  the  explo- 
sive mixture  in  the  cylinder  and  fires  it. 
The  gas  and  air  admission  valve,  located 
almost  directly  behind  the  igniting  valve, 
is  not  worked  by  any  rod  or  gearing, 
but  opens  under  the  influence  of  the  par- 


sizes  of  from  one  to  eight  horse-power, 
though  a  small  half  horse  -  power 
pump  and  engine  combination  is  also 
turned  out. 

Experience  with  this  engine  has  shown 
that  it  is  well  adapted  to  the  driving  of 
electric  light  dynamos,  and  it  is  for  this 
work  that  its  builders'  make  one  of  their 
strongest  claims,  being  specially  pre- 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


305 


FIG.   97.— THREE  CYLINDER   "TRUSTY"   OIL  ENGINE  AT  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR. 


pared  to  furnish  gas  driven,  isolated 
electric  light  plant  outfits. 

A  petroleum  engine  in  which  the  now 
so  widely  used  Otto  cycle  is  not  followed 
is  that  built  by  Messrs.  Penney  &  Co., 
of  Lincoln,  England,  and  known  as  the 
Weatherhogg  engine.  In  this  a  prac- 
tical application  is  made  of  the  six-stroke 
cycle,  already  referred  to  in  one  of  the 
preceding  papers,  a  scavenger  charge 
of  air  being  taken  into  and  discharged 
from  the  cylinder  during  the  interval 
between  exhaust  of  the  products  of  com- 
bustion and  the  admission  of  the  work- 
ing charge. 

The  oil  is  injected  into  a  vaporizer  by 
a  pump,  which  acts  only  when  the  speed 

5-22 


of  the  engine  is  normal  or  less,'  being 
operated  by  a  hit-and-miss  device  con- 
trolled by  the  governor.  The  oil  is 
delivered  into  a  coil  heated  by  a  blow- 
pipe flame,  and  is  there  vaporized  under 
pressure.  The  flame  is  produced  from 
a  spray  of  petroleum,  and  is  fed  by 
compressed  air  from  a  pump,  which  can 
be  worked  by  hand  at  starting. 

When  starting  the  engine,  a  handle  is 
fixed  to  the  crank  which  works  the 
pump,  and  it  is  rotated  by  hand  for  a 
few  minutes,  until  the  coil  is  hot.  The 
oil  is  then  injected  and  the  vapor  is 
allowed  to  accumulate  until  it  attains  a 
considerable  pressure,  which  is  main- 
tained during  working.  It  is  claimed 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


that  better  results  are  obtained  by  this 
pressure,  and  that  it  enables  crude 
petroleum  to  be  used  if  required.  The 
pressure  can  be  regulated  by  adjusting 
a  throttling  device  at  the  outlet  of  the 
vaporizer.  Between  the  vaporizer  and 
the  cylinder  is  the  air  admission  valve, 
contained  in  a  box  in  which  mixture  of 
the  charges  take  place,  ignition  being 
effected  by  a  heated  tube.  In  some 
cases  a  part  of  the  air  is  taken  from  a 
box  in  which  the  crank  and  connecting- 
rod  are  inclosed,  and  in  this  Way  any 
leakage  past  the  piston  is  caught  and 
prevented  from  escaping  into  the  engine 
room. 

In    connection    with    the    ' '  Trusty  ' ' 
double-cylinder  oil  engine  shown  in  the 


June  number,  it  is  of  interest  to  direct 
attention  to  a 'vertical,  three-cylinder  oil 
engine  built  by  the  same  firm,  Messrs. 
Weyman  &  Hitchcock,  of  Guildford, 
England,  and  shown  at  the  World's 
Fair  at  Chicago.  The  principle  of  oper- 
ation is  essentially  the  same  as  that  of 
the  engine  already  described.  The  three 
cylinders  are  connected  to  a  three-throw 
crank  shaft,  with  the  cranks  set  at 
angles  of  120  degrees,  so  that  the  work 
of  the  cylinders  is  well  distributed 
throughout  the  period  of  each  revolu- 
tion. The  valve  gear  is  worked  from  a 
cam  shaft  driven  by  worm  gearing,  but 
each  cylinder  has  its  separate  cams  so 
that  any  one  of  them  may  be  cut  out  at 
will. 


(  To  be  continued '. 


MODERN  GAS  AND  OIL  ENGINES 

By  Albert  Spies,  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M  E. 
$eventh 


|  HE  methods  of  ig- 
niting the  working 
charges  in  gas  and 
oil  engines  are  de- 
tails of  design  to 
which  considerable 
study  has  been  given 
without,  however, 
having  brought 
about  anything  like 
uniformity  of  prac- 
tice. No  one  partic- 
ular device,  as  was 
to  be  expected,  has 
been  centered  upon 
as  the  best  or  most 
desirable  one,  and 
recurrence  to  the  descriptions  of  engines 
already  given  in  the  preceding  papers 
will  show  that  electric  ignition,  flame  ig- 
nition and  ignition  by  incandescence  all 
have  found  a  share  of  favor  in  the  eyes 
of  gas  engine  builders.  Electric  igni- 
tion has  been  practiced  either  by  the 
spark  method,  as  in  the  early  Lenoir 
engine,  in  which,  at  the  proper  times, 
an  electric  spark  was  made  to  pass 
between  two  electrodes  within  the  cyl- 
inder, or  by  the  incandescent  wire 
method,  in  which  an  electric  current 
was  applied  directly  to  heat  a  thin  plat- 
inum wire.  This  latter  method  would 
appear  to  have  been  used  only  in  an  ex- 
perimental way.  Still  another  electric 
arrangement  has  been  suggested  a  num- 
ber of  times,  by  which  an  electric  arc 
was  to  be  maintained  in  the  cylinder  of 
the  engine,  between  two  heavy  platinum 
points,  but  this  device,  so  far  as  can  be 
found,  simply  figured  in  patent  specifi- 
cations, and  never  came  into  actual  use. 
The  flame  method  is  currently  em- 
ployed in  many  good  engines  of  the 
present  day,  and  was  put  into  its  first 
practical  shape  more  than  fifty  years 


ago,  since  which  time  it  has  undergone 
a  variety  of  modifications.  With  the 
early  non-compression  engines,  in 
which  the  pressure  in  the  cylinder  be- 
fore explosion  of  the  charge  was  the 
same  as,  or  even  less  than,  the  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere,  flame  ignition  was  a 
comparatively  simple  thing,  and  it  was 
easy  enough  to  transfer  a  flame  from 
the  outer  air  into  the  interior  of  the  cyl- 
inder with  little,  if  any,  trouble  from  ex- 
tinction. In  the  early  flame-ignition  ex- 
periments the  very  simple  expedient 
was  adopted  of  providing  a  hole  in  the 
cylinder  wall,  which  hole  was  uncovered 
by  the  piston  after  a  portion  of  the 
stroke  had  been  passed  over,  and  the 
flame  was  sucked  through  it  into  the 
cylinder.  The  hole  was  either  so  small 
that  no  appreciable  loss  of  pressure  oc- 
curred upon  explosion  of  the  charge,  or 
it  was  covered  by  a  small  valve  which 
closed  automatically  as  soon  as  the 
pressure  in  the  cylinder  rose.  When 
the  gases  to  which  the  flame  was  to  be 
communicated,  however,  were  under  a 
pressure  of  some  magnitude,  as  is  the 
case  in  nearly  all  the  gas  engines  of  the 
present  time,  the  difficulties  of  the  igni- 
tion problem  were  at  once  increased. 
The  method  just  referred  to,  and  not  in- 
aptly termed  the  ' '  touch-hole  ' '  meth- 
od, obviously  became  inapplicable,  and 
special  valve  devices  had  to  be  designed 
to  meet  the  new  conditions,  a  good  ex- 
ample of  one  of  them  being  that  of  the 
earlier  Otto  engine,  as  illustrated  in  the 
first  paper  of  this  series. 

Ignition  of  explosive  gas  and  air  mix- 
tures by  contact  with  more  or  less 
highly  heated  metallic  surfaces,  or  the 
hot-tube  method,  as  it  is  now  generally 
termed,  was  suggested  independently 
by  several  investigators  a  number  of 
years  ago.  The  general  scheme  pro- 

363 


364 


GASSIER' S  MAGAZINE. 


posed  was  to  ignite  the  gas  and  air 
charge  by  passing  it  through  a  metal 
tube  heated  to  redness  by  a  flame  out- 
side of  it,  and  this  method  is  in  success- 
ful use  to-day  in  a  large  number  of  en- 
gines. Wrought  iron  is  generally  em- 
ployed for  the  tubes,  though  in  a  few 
engines  platinum  has  been  pressed  into 
service,  its  higher  cost  being  counter- 
balanced, in  a  measure,  by  its  greater 
durability.  A  difficulty  with  the  iron 


compressed  air  and  gas  charge  to  the 
tubes  at  the  proper  moment.  The  flame 
method  and  the  hot-tube  method  just 
mentioned  are  the  ones  which  seem  to 
have  secured  the  greater  measure  of 
popularity,  being  claimed,  by  their  ad- 
vocates, to  be  more  certain  in  action 
and  cheaper  and  simpler  in  arrangement 
than  the  electric  devices.  The  latter, 
however,  are  by  no  means  allowed  to 
rest  under  any  such  imputations  of  com- 


FIG.   98.  -THB  PACIFIC  ENGINE — MARINE  TYPE. 


tubes  is  found  in  their  rapid  oxidation 
and  furring,  necessitating  their  more  or 
less  frequent  renewal,  but  with  their 
cheapness  and  the  ease  with  which  an 
old  and  worn-out  one  may  be  replaced 
by  a  new  one,  this  objection  is  not  so 
serious  as  might  be  supposed.  In  some 
engines  the  tubes  are  so  screwed  into 
the  cylinders  as  to  be  constantly  in  com- 
munication with  them,  while  in  others 
valves  are  arranged  which  admit  the 


parative  inefficiency.  A  number  of  en- 
gine builders  have  devoted  much  en- 
ergy to  their  development,  and  as  a  re- 
sult this  type  of  ignition  device  is  now 
used  with  much  satisfaction  in  some  of 
the  best  engines  on  the  market.  A 
flexible  electrode  arrangement,  which  is 
employed  in  several  of  these  devices, 
affording  absolute  certainty  of  contact 
in  completing  the  electric  battery  cir- 
cuit, is  one  of  the  most  important  im- 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


365 


provements  that  has  been  made  in  con- 
nection with  them,  and  to  it  is  mainly 
due  their  present  satisfactory  action. 

One  of  the  forms  of  gas  and  oil  en- 
gines, in  which  this  arrangement  is  in 


FIG.  99.— SECTION   OF   PACIFIC   ENGINE. 

use,  and  which  has  attained  much  pop- 
ularity, especially  for  boat  propulsion, 
is  the  Pacific  engine,  built  both  by  the 
Union  Gas  Engine  Company,  of  San 
Francisco,  CaL,  and  the  Globe  Gas  En- 
gine Company,  of  Philadelphia.  One  of 
the  earlier  designs  of  this  engine,  ar- 
ranged as  a  launch  motor,  with  revers- 
ing gear  and  circulating  pump  for  the 
cylinder  water  jackets,  is  shown  in  Fig. 
98.  In  this  A  represents  a  relief  valve, 
through  which  part  of  the  compressed 
vapor  may  be  allowed  to  escape  to  fa- 
cilitate starting  up  the  engine.  The 
throttle  valve  is  marked  B,  while  C  and 
D  are  gas  and  air  regulating  cocks ;  E 
is  the  reversing  lever  which,  by  being 
shifted  from  the  upper  to  the  lower  po- 
sition, brings  a  back  gear  into  operation 
and  causes  the  propeller  shaft  to  run  in 
a  reverse  direction ;  G  is  a  clutch  lever 
for  stopping  and  starting  the  propeller 
shaft.  The  circulating  pump  H  takes 


water  through  the  bottom  of  the  boat, 
and  discharges  it  into  the  lower  part  of 
the  water  jacket  around  the  cylinder, 
while  the  overflow  pipe  L  from  the  upper 
part  of  the  jacket  is  led  out  through  the 
side  of  the  boat  above  the  water  line. 
Water  from  the  jacket  may  be  drained 
off  through  the  cock  K.  The  coupling 
for  connecting  the  engine  with  the  pro- 
peller shaft  is  placed  at  the  end  of  the 
secondary  shaft  /.  The  exhaust  valve 
is  marked  J.  The  engine  works  ac- 
cording to  the  Otto  cycle,  and  the 
charge,  as  previously  intimated,  is  fired 
by  an  electric  spark,  I7  and  M  being  the 
wires  from  the  battery,  the  former  con- 
necting with  an  interrupting  device,  so 
that  a  spark  is  produced  only  at  the  be- 
ginning of  every  second  down  stroke  of 
the  piston.  It  will  be  understood  that, 
like  in  the  several  other  launch  outfits, 


Vf- 


FIG.  100.— THE  VAPORIZER. 

described  in  some  of  the  preceding  pa- 
pers, the  engine  itself  is  never  reversed, 
but  runs  continuously  in  one  direction, 
and  the  direction  of  motion  of  the  pro- 
peller shaft  and  the  secondary  engine 


366 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.    IOI.-A   DOUBLE-CYLINDER  PACIFIC   ENGINE. 


MODERN  GAS  AND   OIL   ENGINES. 


367 


shaft  alone  is  changed,  when  desired, 
by  the  lever  arrangement  already  men- 
tioned. 

The  valve  gearing  of  the  engine, 
which  is  one  of  its  special  features,  and 
entirely  unlike  that  of  any  other  engine 
in  the  market,  is  illustrated  more  clearly 
in  the  sectional  view,  Fig.  99.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  on  the  crank  shaft  is  a 
cam,  /*,  having  two  grooves  which  run 
parallel  part  of  the  way  around,  and 
then  intersect  each  other.  A  segment- 
shaped  finger,  S,  rests  in  one  of  these 
grooves,  and  as  the  engine  shaft  re- 
volves the  finger  is  guided  through  the 
intersection  from  one  groove  to  the 
other,  and  carries  a  swinging  arm,  T, 
under  the  exhaust  valve  stem  once  in 


and  air  mixture  into  the  cylinder  is,  at 
such  times,  prevented  simply  by  the 
fact  that  the  exhaust  passages  are  very 
large  as  compared  with  the  gas  and  air 
inlet,  and  the  exhaust  valve,  as  stated, 
is  held  wide  open,  and  there  is  thus  less 
resistance  to  the  flow  of  air  through 
them  than  there  is  to  the  flow  of  gas  and 
air  mixture  through  its  regular  admis- 
sion port  and  valve.  The  latter  will, 
therefore,  not  open,  and,  consequently, 
no  working  charge  can  enter  the  cylin- 
der until  the  governor  catch  on  the  ex- 
haust valve  rod  is  released  by  a  falling- 
ofT  in  the  engine  speed  and  the  exhaust 
valve  is  allowed  to  close. 

The  design  of  the  engine  has  latterly 
been  somewhat  modified,   but  only  in 


FIG.  102. — VALVE  GEAR  OF  THE  UNION  ENGINE. 


every  two  revolutions.  The  cam  Q  at 
those  periods  lifts  the  arm  7",  and  with 
it  the  exhaust  valve  rod,  opening  the 
valve  and  permitting  the  escape  of  the 
waste  gases  from  the  cylinder.  The 
governor  acts  directly  on  the  exhaust 
valve  rod,  holding  it  up,  with  the  valve 
open,  whenever  the  speed  of  the  engine 
rises  above  the  normal.  The  effect  of 
this,  to  begin  with,  is  that  neither  back 
pressure  nor  partial  vacuum  are  created 
in  the  cylinder  when  running  without 
working  explosions,  air  from  without 
being  alternately  drawn  into  the  cylin- 
der and  expelled  from  it  through  the 
exhaust  pipe.  Admission  of  fresh  gas 


details  which  but  slightly  change  its 
appearance,  the  manner  of  operation 
remaining  exactly  the  same.  A  double- 
cylinder  engine  is  built  on  essentially 
the  same  lines  as  the  one  just  described, 
and  is  shown  in  Fig.  101.  This  illustra- 
tion also  shows  the  improved  form  of 
vaporizer  with  which  the  engine  is  fitted 
when  using  gasoline,  and  which  takes 
the  place  of  the  various  forms  of  car- 
burettors employed  in  connection  with 
most  other  engines.  The  vaporizer  is 
shown  attached  to  the  lower  right  hand 
part  of  the  engine,  at  the  side  of  the 
base  near  the  fly-wheel,  a  detail  view 
being  given  in  Fig.  100.  It  consists  of 


368 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


either  a  glass  or  metal  body  E,  glass 
being  used  in  the  one  shown  attached 
to  the  engine,  and  inside  of  this  is  a 
ball-shaped  valve,  N,  seated  on  the  end 
of  a  tube  connected  with  the  air  inlet 
pipe  G.  Connection  from  the  vapori- 
zer to  the  engine  cylinders  is  made  at 
M,  A  casing  around  the  exhaust  pipe 
of  the  engine  affords  an  annular  space 
through  which  the  air  is  drawn  on  its 
way  to  the  vaporizer  inlet  G,  and  is 
heated  by  contact  with  the  hot  exhaust 
pipe.  As  the  air  enters  the  vaporizer 
body,  it  lifts  the  ball  valve  A7",  and  the 
latter  strikes  against  the  spindle  O  of 
the  gasoline  valve,  raising  it  and  per- 


flow  of  gasoline  through  the  opening,  C, 
if  desired,  when  starting  the  engine. 
The  gasoline  and  air  inlet  valves  O  and 
N,  of  course,  open  only  during  the  suc- 
tion strokes  of  the  pistons,  remaining 
shut  during  the  remainder  of  the  work- 
ing cycles.  In  actual  practice  this 
vaporizer  has  been  found  to  perform 
admirably,  and  some  preliminary  trials 
made  even  with  ordinary  oils  have 
been  found  to  give  promising  results. 
The  vaporizer  being  directly  attached 
to  the  engine,  and  not  a  separate  addi- 
tion like  the  several  currently  used 
carburettors,  makes  the  whole  outfit 
comparatively  simple  and  self-con- 


FIG.  103.— VERTICAL   SECTION   THROUGH   VALVE   CHAMBERS   OF   UNION   ENGINE. 


mitting  a  small  quantity  of  gasoline  to 
flow  into  the  vaporizer  through  the 
cock  Ay  from  a  conveniently  placed 
tank  at  a  higher  level.  The  gasoline  so 
admitted  is  at  once  turned  into  vapor 
by  the  heated  air  and  is  drawn  oft  on  its 
way  to  the  engine  through  the  connec- 
tion M. 

The  low^er  end  of  the  valve  N\s  shown 
at  H  where  a  leather  washer,  I,  is  pro- 
vided on  a  collar,  /,  the  latter  prevent- 
ing the  valve  from  lifting  too  high. 
The  upper  part  X  X  of  the  vaporizer 
proper  is  arranged  so  that  it  may  be 
revolved  by  loosening  the  screw  D, 
enabling  the  attendant  to  observe  the 


tained.  The  stationary  Pacific  engine 
is,  in  all  essential  details,  the  same  as  the 
marine  type  except  that  the  reversing 
and  clutch  gears  are  omitted. 

Another  engine,  of  the  horizontal 
type,  however,  made  by  the  same 
builders,  and  known  as  the  Union  en- 
gine, is  shown  in  Fig.  104.  Details  of 
the  valve  gear  and  igniting  device  are 
shown  in  Figs.  102  and  103,  the  former 
representing  an  arrangement  slightly 
different  in  appearance  from  that  seen 
in  the  general  view  of  the  engine  in 
Fig.  104,  but  exactly  the  same  so  far  as 
the  manner  of  operation  is  concerned. 
Motion  from  the  crank  shaft  C  of  the 


MODERN  GAS  AND   OIL   ENGINES. 


369 


FIG.    104. — THE  UNION   ENGINE. 


engine  is  reduced  and  transmitted  to 
the  cam  shaft  A  through  a  series  of  in- 
tervening gear  wheels  not  shown  in  the 
illustration,  and  the  several  cams  on 
this  shaft  A  operate  on  the  cam  rollers 
B  and  D,  the  former  being  on  a  rocker 
arm  which  works  both  the  inlet  and 
exhaust  valves  at  the  same  time  through 
a  bell  crank,  E,  while  the  latter  is  on 
another  rocker  arm  controlling  an  elec- 
trode disc,  F.  The  inlet-  and  exhaust 
valves  are  designated  by  the  letters  G 
and  H,  respectively,  and  it  will  be 
easily  seen  that  when  one  of  these 
valves  is  closed,  the  other  is  opened, 
and  vice  versa,  a  small  rocking  beam, 
y,  being  interposed  for  this  purpose. 

Mounted  on  the  engine  crank  shaft 
is  also  the  governor  with  its  restraining 
spring  and  weight,  K,  which  latter,  un- 
der the  influence  of  excessive  speed, 
moves  outwards  and,  in  the  course  of 
its  revolution,  depresses  the  catch  lever 
L.  The  latter  when  so  depressed 
hooks  on  to  the  upper  end  of  the 
rocker  arm  B  when  the  latter  reaches 
its  extreme  right  hand  position,  and 
keeps  it  there,  with  the  inlet  valve  G 
closed  and  the  exhaust  valve  H  wide 

4-23 


open,  until  the  speed  becomes  slower 
and  the  governor  weight  again  moves 
inward  and  no  longer  presses  down  the 
lever  L. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  Pacific  engine, 
previously  described,  the  exhaust 
valve,  in  virtue  of  this  arrangement, 
is  held  open  constantly  while  the 
idle  strokes  of  the  piston  are  being 
made,  air  being  freely  drawn  into  and 
expelled  from  the  engine  cylinder 
through  the  exhaust  pipe  during  this 
period,  so  that  there  is  no  possibility 
of  a  partial  vacuum  being  formed  in 
the  cylinder,  or  of  back  pressure  being 
created. 

The  current  interrupter  for  the  elec- 
tric igniting  device  is  shown  at  M,  and 
requires  no  special  explanation  as  its 
manner  of  working  is  quite  clear  from 
the  illustration.  There  is,  it  will  be 
noticed,  a  flexible  contact  strip  carried 
by  a  collar  on  the  rod  operating  the 
bell  crank  E,  and  this  strip,  in  moving 
back  and  forth  with  the  rod  in  ques- 
tion, makes  and  breaks  the  electric 
contact  at  M  at  the  proper  periods 
which  are  determined  both  by  the  gov- 
ernor and  by  the  nature  of  the  reduc- 


370 


GASSIER' S   MAGAZINE. 


ing  gearing  between  the  crank  shaft  C 
and  the  cam  shaft  A. 

A  vertical  section  through  the  ex- 
haust and  inlet  valve  chambers,  show- 
ing also  the  nature  of  the  igniting  elec- 
trode arrangement  which  is  somewhat 
different  from  that  used  in  the  Pacific 
engine,  is  given  in  Fig.  103.  The  rod 
R,  in  Fig.  102,  connects  by  means  of  the 
pin  P,  with  the  electrode  disc  /%  seen 
in  both  views,  and  gives  it  an  oscillating 
motion  which,  of  course,  is  imparted 
also  to  the  electrode  A"  carried  on  the 


cylinders  placed  opposite  one  another 
in  two  pairs,  and  with  a  modified  form 
of  valve  gear  has  been  built  and  has 
given  particularly  good  results  in  point 
of  steadiness  of  speed.  The  igniting 
devices  described  form  subjects  of  sev- 
eral patents. 

An  English  engine,  which  has 
achieved  considerable  prominence,  is 
the  Stockport  engine,  built  by  Messrs. 
J.  E.  H.  Andrew  &  Co.,  Limited,  of 
Stockport.  In  its  early  form  it  was  of 
the  double-end  design — that  is  to  say, 


FIG.  105. — THE   STOCKPORT   ENGINE,    BUILT   BY   MESSRS.   J.    E.    H.    ANDREW   &   CO.,    LTD.,   STOCKPORT,   ENG. 


end  of  the  electrode  disc  spindle.  This 
electrode  A",  as  will  be  at  once  under- 
stood, is  thus  made  to  alternately 
strike  and  clear  the  flexible  electrode 
S,  which  is  connected  with  one  of  the 
battery  wires,  and  when  contact  is  thus 
made  and  broken  at  this  point,  contact 
also  being  made  at  the  interrupter  M', 
in  Fig.  1 02,  a  spark  is  produced  which 
fires  the  explosive  charge  in  the  inlet 
valve  chamber  and  cylinder.  A  four- 
cylinder  engine  of  this  type,  with  the 


there  were  two  horizontal  cylinders 
placed  opposite  each  other,  one  being 
the  motor  cylinder  proper,  and  the 
other,  the  compressor  cylinder,  and  the 
crank  was  placed  midway  between  the 
two.  A  number  of  modifications  have, 
however,  of  recent  years,  been  insti- 
tuted in  the  design,  so  that,  in  one  of 
its  latest  shapes,  the  engine  is  substan- 
tially like  that  shown  in  Fig.  105.  In 
this,  it>  will  be  observed,  there  is  no 
separate  compressor  cylinder,  and  the 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


37i 


FIG.   I06.— VERTICAL  STOCKPORT   ENGINE  FOR  HOISTING. 


-engine  works  according  to  the  regular 
Otto  cycle,  with,  normally,  one  explo- 
sion in  every  two  revolutions.  The 
valve  gearing  and  governor  are  oper- 
ated from  a  secondary  shaft  running 
along  the  side  of  the  cylinder,  and 
driven  from  the  main  shaft  through  in- 
tervening bevel  gears.  Firing  of  the 
working  charge  is  accomplished  by  a 
tube  igniter,  and  the  valves  all  are  of 
the  poppet  type.  On  the  larger  en- 


gines the  type  oi  governor  shown  in 
Fig.  105  is  used,  while  the  smaller  sizes 
are  provided  with  a  vibrating  governor 
shown  on  page  375,  in  which  a  weight, 
riding  on  a  spring,  is  moved  by  a  vi- 
brating lever.  So  long  as  the  engine 
runs  at  a  certain  speed  the  weight  keeps 
in  position  a  small  hit-and-miss  lever, 
and  gas  enters  the  cylinder  of  the  en- 
gine. With  any  variation  of  speed 
above  the  normal,  however,  the  posi- 


372 


CASSIEX'S  MAGAZINE. 


MODERN  GAS  AND   OIL   ENGINES. 


373 


tion  of  the  weight  changes,  moving  the 
valve  operating  lever  out  of  gear  and 
cutting  off  the  gas  supply.  For  elec- 
tric lighting  and  other  work  requiring 
very  steady  motion,  a  special  governor 
is  used  for  varying  the  explosive  mix- 
ture, so  that  the  speed  may  be  con- 
trolled without  missing  explosions  in 
the  cylinder. 

Messrs.  Andrew  &  Co.,  who,  by  the 
way,  are,  next  to  Messrs.  Crossley 
Bros,  of  Manchester,  England,  proba- 
bly the  oldest  firm  of  gas  engine  build- 
ers, are  the  makers  also  of  the  Bisschop 
engine — an  engine  which  will  probably 
appeal  only  to  the  smaller  power 


its  connections  extending  upward,  and 
motion  from  the  crosshead  being  im- 
parted to  the  crank  by  a  vibrating  lever 
arrangement.  In  order  to  prevent 
sticking  of  the  piston  in  the  cylinder 
owing  to  the  rather  high  temperature 
which  it  attains,  it  is  fitted  quite  loosely 
without  rings,  and  the  pressure  from 
the  gas  explosions  is  so  slight  that  the 
leakage  past  the  piston  is  not  serious. 
The  flame  ignition  method  is  used  to 
fire  the  charge,  the  flame  being  drawn 
into  the  cylinder  through  an  opening 
in  its  walls  on  the  already  mentioned 
' '  touch-hole  ' '  principle. 

In  the  matter  of  size  of  engines  it  is 


EXHAUST 


FIG.  IO8.— SECTION  OF   END   OF   CYLINDER 
OF  STOCKPORT  ENGINE. 


FIG.    109.— SIDE  VIEW   OF   STOCKPORT 
ENGINE  STARTING  GEAR. 


users,  being  a  surviving  form  of  the 
early  non-compression  type  of  motor 
which  has  been  almost  completely 
driven  out  of  the  commercial  gas  en- 
gine field  by  the  developments  of  recent 
years.  In  this  engine  the  principal  end 
aimed  at  is  to  get  a  small,  workable 
engine  with  the  least  possible  compli- 
cation, economy  of  gas  being  a  second- 
ary consideration.  Instead  of  having 
a  water  jacket,  the  cylinder  has  cast  on 
it  a  number  of  radiating  ribs,  which 
carry  away  the  heat  of  the  explosions 
and  keep  the  temperature  of  the  cylin- 
der walls  at  a  reasonable  point.  The 
cylinder  is  vertical,  the  piston  rod  and 


interesting  to  note  that  Messrs.  An- 
drew &  Co.  are  now  building  Stock- 
port  engines  indicating  as  high  as  150 
horse-power  in  a  single  cylinder.  One 
of  the  largest  gas-driven  electric  light 
installations  in  England,  at  Morecambe, 
was  equipped  with  engines  by  them, 
the  plant  comprising  three  Stockport 
engines  of  sixteen  horse-power  each,  a 
Dowson  gas  plant,  and  three  dynamos 
of  300  lights  each,  besides  a  storage 
battery  outfit.  Messrs.  Tangye,  Lim- 
ited, of  Birmingham,  and  Messrs.  Cross- 
ley  Bros.,  Limited,  of  Manchester,  Eng- 
land, also  have  turned  out  noteworthy 
engines  of  large  size,  developing  from 


374 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


MODERN  GAS 


eighty-five  to  100  actual  horse-power. 
One  of  the  Tangye  engines,  rated  at 
115  indicated  horse-power,  furnishes 
power  for  fine  weaving  machinery  in  a 
Belfast  mill,  and  is  stated  to  give  emi- 
nent satisfaction,  both  in  point  of  econ- 


FIG.  III. — VIBRATING   STOCKPORT   GOVERNOR. 

omy  and  steady  running.  The  Cross- 
ley-Otto  engine  is,  in  the  main,  similar 
to  the  Otto  engine  made  in  the  United 
States,  and  already  described  in  the 
first  paper  of  this  series,  so  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  enter  into  its  details  here. 
In  nearly  all  the  larger  sizes  of  gas 
engines  some  form  of  starting  device  is 
now  used  which  dispenses  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  turning  the  fly  wheels  by  hand 
— a  proceeding  which  is  not  only  diffi- 
cult, but,  in  some  cases,  would  be  quite 
impossible.  Of  these  starting 
gears  that  used  by  Messrs.  An- 
drew &  Co.  on  their  engines  is 
shown  in  Figs.  108  and  109,  the 
former  representing  a  side  view, 
and  the  latter  a  sectional  view  of 
the  end  of  the  cylinder.  At  A  is 
a  Bunsen  burner  for  heating  the 
ignition  tube  B.  At  C  is  the  ex- 
haust valve,  and  above  it  a  gas 
admission  valve  E.  Above,  and 
at  the  outer  end  of  the  ignition 
tube  B,  is  an  air  outlet  valve,  with  handle 
D.  At  F  is  a  timing  valve  for  fixing  the 
period  at  which  the  gaseous  mixture 
shall  be  admitted  to  the  ignition  tube. 
When  it  is  desired  to  start  the  engine, 


375 

the  gas  admission  valve  E — over  the 
exhaust  valve  C — is  opened.  Gas  com- 
mences to  flow  into  the  cylinder,  which 
then  contains  only  air  at  atmospheric 
pressure.  This  air  is  allowed  to  escape 
in  quantity  equal  to  that  of  the  gas  ad- 
mitted by  the  valve  at  the  end  of  and 
above  the  horizontal  part  of  the  igni- 
tion tube  B.  As  soon  as  sufficient  gas 
has  in  this  way  flown  into  the  cylinder 
to  produce  an  explosive  mixture  where 
it  enters  into  the  ignition  tube,  ignition 
takes  place  and  the  engine  starts.  The 
valve  E  and  the  air  outlet  valve  are 
then  closed,  and  the  gas  main,  which 
had  been  previously  closed,  is  opened 
and  gas  allowed  to  flow  into  the  gas 
bag. 

Messrs.  Tangye' s  self-starter  consists 
mainly  of  an  air  pump  worked  by 
hand,  by  means  of  which  the  space  be- 
hind the  piston  may  be  filled  with  gas 
and  air  under  a  slight  pressure.  Some 
of  this  mixture  enters  the  ignition  tube 
and  is  fired,  giving  the  initial  impulse, 
after  which  the  engine  continues  run- 
ning in  the  regular  way.  Messrs. 
Robey  &  Co.,  of  Lincoln,  England,  to 
whose  engines  reference  was  made  in 
the  July  number  of  this  magazine,  use 
on  their  large  engines  what  is  known 
as  the  Clerk-Lanchester  starter,  illustra- 
ted in  Fig.  112.  It  consists  of  a  cham- 


FIG.  112.— THE   CLERK-LANCHESTER   STARTING   GEAR. 

ber  A,  outside  and  separate  from  the 
engine,  and  of  a  capacity  rather 
greater  than  that  of  the  cylinder,  with 
which  it  is  connected  by  a  pipe  E,  and 
check  valve  W.  The  crank  being. set 


376 


MAGAZINE. 


at  about  fifteen  degrees,  gas  is  turned 
on  by  a  tap  X,  from  the  gas  main  G, 
and  it  flows  into  the  chamber  by  the 
pipe  J,  mingling  with  the  air  therein 
and  forming  an  explosive  mixture.  At 
the  same  time  gas  flows  into  the  cylin- 
der by  the  pipe  shown.  When  the 


and  this  forces  the  gas  in  E  into  the 
cylinder  under  a  pressure  of  about 
fifty  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  forms 
there  a  compressed  mixture  which,  on 
ignition,  gives  an  average  pressure  in 
the  cylinder  of  about  eighty-five 
pounds  per  square  inch,  and  starts  the 


FIG.  113. — OIL  ENGINE  BUILT  BY  MESSRS.  J.  M.  GROB  &  CO.,  LEIPSIC-EUTRITZSCH, 

GERMANY. 


mixture  is  so  far  formed  as  to  be  in- 
flammable, it  lights  at  the  jet  Y,  and  a 
little  later  becomes  of  sufficient  ex- 
plosive strength.  The  tap  X  is  then 
closed,  and  the  ejecting  pressure  ceas- 
ing, the  flame  at  Y shoots  back,  ignites 
the  tgaseous  mixture  in  the  chamber, 


engine  and  its  load.  In  the  line  ol 
petroleum  motors  Germany  would  ap- 
pear to  have  kept  well  abreast  of 
other  countries,  and  a  number  of  Ger- 
man makers  have  established  agencies 
outside  of  their  own  domain,  notably 
in  England,  for  the  sale  and  general 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


377 


advertisement  of  their  product,  com- 
peting, thus,  directly  with  a  host  of 
other  engines  in  their  own  territory. 
Among  these  is  the  firm  of  J.  M.  Grob 
&  Co.,  of  Leipsic-Eutritzsch,  who  are 
building  an  engine  which  in  Germany, 
at  least,  seems  to  be  well  known,  and  to 
have  found  considerable  favor  for  all 
kinds  of  work — marine,  stationary  and 
portable.  It  appears,  in  fact,  to  be  a 
modification  of  the  Capitaine  engine, 
already  described  in  one  of 
the  earlier  papers  of  this 
series. 

Though  on  the  market  for 
only  about  two  years  and  a 
half,  something  like  1400  of 
these  engines  are  said  to  be 
now  in  use.  The  sectional 
view  clearly  explains  the 
working  mechanism.  The 
engine  belongs  to  that  class 
of  petroleum  motors  in  which 
the  oil  is  vaporized  in  a  heat- 


atomizer  valves  closing  automatically, 
and  explosion  of  the  charge  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  second  down-stroke  of 
the  cycle  is  produced  by  some  of  the 
mixture  having  been  forced  into  hot 
vaporizer,  which  serves  the  purpose  of 
an  ignition  tube.  The  working  stroke 
having  been  performed,  exhaust  during 
the  second  up-stroke  of  the  piston  takes 
place  through  the  valve  E,  which  is 
worked  by  a  long  shaft  receiving 
motion  from  the  crank 
shaft  of  the  engine  through 
intervening  gear  wheels. 
The  valve  rod  is  not  con- 
nected to  the  exhaust  valve, 
but  simply  strikes  against 
the  valve  spindle  and  pushes 
it  upward,  the  seating  of  the 
valve  being  effected  by  a 
spring.  The  valve  is  opened 
only  once  in  every  two  rev- 
olutions of  the  main  shaft. 
Heating  of  the  vaporizing 


FIG.  114.— VERTICAL  SECTION   OF  THE  GROB   ENGINE. 


•ed  chamber  before  being  drawn  into  the 
working  cylinder,  the  vaporizing  cham- 
ber being  marked  V  in  the  illustration. 
Working,  as  the  engine  does,  on  the 
Otto  cycle,  it  draws  in  air  on  its  first 
down-stroke  through  the  valve  A,  and 
petroleum  through  the  atomizer  S,  the 
petroleum  spray  being  vaporized  in  V 
before  it  mixes  with  the  fresh  air  and 
enters  the  working  cylinder.  The  vapor 
and  air  mixture  is  compressed  on  the 
next  up-stroke  of  the  piston,  the  air  and 


chamber  is  effected  by  the  lamp  L,  and 
cooling  water  for  the  cylinder  jackets 
enters,  and  escapes  through  the  connec- 
tions WW. 

The  oil  pump  P,  which  supplies 
oil  to  the  vaporizing  chamber,  is 
controlled  by  the  governor  in  such 
a  way  that  the  amount  is  varied  in 
accordance,  with  the  demand  for 
power.  The  oil  used  is  of  the  ordin- 
ary kind  burned  in  lamps  for  illuminat- 
ing purposes. 


( To  be  continued.} 


RECENT  IMPROVEMENTS    IN  WATER  VALVES. 


By  John  Richards,  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M.  E. 


THE  drawings  from  Fig.  i  to  5 
show  some  water  valves  invented 
by  Mr.  C.  I.  Hall,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, Cal. ,  and  employed  by  the  Cahill 
&  Hall  Elevator  Company,  to  hoisting 
or  elevator  machinery,  in  their  practice. 

These  valves  were  aptly  described  by 
the  inventor  in  one  of  his  first  specifi- 
cations as  permitting  the  water  to  flow 
only  in  the  direction  intended,  which  is 
the  leading  characteristic  of  all  the 
designs. 

The  company  are  makers  of  ' '  hydro- 
steam  ' '  elevators,  in  which  the  im- 
pelling force  is  steam  pressing  upon 
the  water,  which  actuates  the  hydraulic 
pistons,  the  water  by  reason  of  its  in- 
elasticity performing  the  required  func- 
tion of  positive  movement  and  "  abut- 


ment," the  same  as  in  the  case  of  com- 
mon hydraulic  elevators.  The  direct 
steam  pressure  dispenses  with  pumps, 
accumulators  and  so  on,  such  as  are 

378 


employed  when  the  price  of  water  does 
not  admit  of  its  use  from  the  public 
service. 


The  water  employed  in  the  hydro- 
steam  system,  while  inelastic  in  itself, 
does  not  produce  regular  or  safe  move- 
ment when  controlled  by  common  stop' 
valves,  for  the  following  reason  :  Sup- 
pose, for  example,  a  load  is  being 
raised,  and  the  cage  is  stopped  on  the 
way  to  receive  an  additional  load,  as  in 
the  case  of  passengers  getting  on  at: 
the  different  floors  of  a  building.  When 
the  cage  is  stopped  there  is  an  equi- 
librium between  the  load  and  the  steam 
pressure  acting  on  the  water,  but  when 
the  valves  are  opened  to  go  on,  or  to 
go  down,  the  static  pressure  will  be  in- 
sufficient to  sustain  the  new  load,  and 
the  cage  will  suddenly  drop  until  the 
steam  rushes  in  to  check  the  back-flow 
of  the  water  and  balance  this  added 
load.  For  this  reason  common  stop 
valves  cannot  be  employed. 

In  the  case  of  removing  a  part  of  the 
load  during  a  trip  of  the  cage  the  same 
difficulty  occurs.  The  pressure  at  the 
time  of  stopping  the  cage  remains  in 
the  steam  receiver,  and  when  valves 
are  opened  this  force  is  too  great  for 
the  reduced  load,  and  the  cage  is  sud- 
denly shot  upward  until  the  forces  are 
balanced.  The  present  valves  are  em- 


MODERN  GAS  AND  OIL  ENGINES 


By  Albert  Spies,  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M  E. 


Bighth 


connection  with 
the  different  ig- 
nition methods 
referred  to  in 
the  preceding 
paper,  it  may 
not  be  amiss  to 
mention  that 
the  case  of 


in 


engines  using 
either  flame  or 
tube  igniters 
the  consumption 
f  of  gas  by  the 
igniting  or  heat- 
ing burners  is 
an  item  not  al- 
ways duly  taken 
into  account, 
and  may  assume  appreciable  propor- 
tions. Where  gasoline  or  some  other  oil 
is  used  in  such  engines  instead  of  gas, 
and  where  the  latter  is  not  to  be  had, 
the  gas  flame  must,  of  course,  except  in 
a  few  engines  of  special  design,  be  sup- 
planted by  an  oil  torch,  and  the  same 
additional  fuel  consumption,  above  that 
taking  place  in  the  cylinder  of  the  en- 
gine itself,  is  there  encountered,  the 
torch,  moreover,  being  a  rather  unde- 
sirable annex  to  the  whole  outfit. 
These  circumstances  have,  in  a  great 
measure,  helped  to  stimulate  the  im- 
proving of  electric  igniting  devices,  and 
several  of  them  are  now  affording  very 
satisfactory  accounts  of  themselves. 
This  much  may  already  have  been 
gathered  from  what  has  gone  before. 
With  the  electric  igniter  there  is,  of 
course,  to  be  considered  the  expense  of 
the  battery  which  furnishes  the  electric 
current,  but  this  has  been  claimed,  and 
with  good  reason,  to  be  a  very  small 
proportion  of  the  whole  operating  ex- 


pense,— a  much  smaller  one,  in  fact, 
than  that  represented  by  the  gas  or  oil 
cost  in  a  flame  or  tube  igniter.  It 
would  seem  to  be  a  pretty  fair  con- 
clusion, under  the  circumstances,  that 
electric  igniters  are  destined  to  a  yet 
wider  application  and  a  growing  share 
of  favor. 

Not  less  important  than  the  methods 
of  igniting  are  those  of  governing,  and 
considerable  ingenuity  has  been  ex- 
pended for  years  past  in  developing 
various  contrivances  designed  to  satis- 
factorily solve  the  gas  engine  governor 
gear  problem.  At  first  thought,  some 
sort  of  throttling  gear  by  which  the  gas 
or  oil  vapor  supply  to  the  cylinder  is 
gradually  reduced  as  the  speed  increases, 
and  vice  versa,  is  apt  to  suggest  itself 
as  a  desirable  one,  and,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  many  gears  of  this  kind  have  been 
made  and  are  used,  both  Lenoir  and 
Hugon  having  followed  this  method  of 
governing  in  their  early  engines.  Its 
wastefulness,  however,  becomes  apparent 
on  even  slight  consideration,  so  that 
one  may  well  wonder  that  at  this  late 
day  the  throttling  governor  is  still 
countenanced  in  gas  engine  practice. 
It  is  obvious  that  if,  with  such  a  gov- 
ernor, the  volume  of  gas  or  oil  vapor 
admitted  to  an  engine  cylinder  is  dimin- 
ished, the  volume  of  air  admitted  is  cor- 
respondingly increased,  and  it  is  well 
known,  too,  that  the  limits  of  variation 
permissible  in  explosive  mixtures  of  gas 
and  air  are  comparatively  narrow,  so 
that  if,  in  a  total  volume  of  mixture, 
the  volume  of  gas  either  exceeds  or 
falls  short  of  a  certain,  elastic  proportion, 
no  explosion  can  be  produced.  While, 
therefore,  a  gas  throttling  governor 
may  either  increase  or  diminish  the 
force  of  the  explosions  in  the  engine 

437 


438 


GASSIER  JS  MAGAZINE. 


cylinder  by  varying  the  strength  of  the 
gas  and  air  mixture  between  these  lim- 
its, yet  if  one  of  the  limits  be  passed, 
and  the  gas  volume,  for  instance,  be 
too  greatly  diminished,  ignition  of  the 
mixture  will  be  missed  and  whatever 


to  increase,  gas  being  simply  pumped 
through  the  cylinder  and  wasted  until 
its  proportion  is  again  increased,  by  the 
subsequent  opening  of  the  gas  valve  to 
that  point  where  the  mixture  once  more 
becomes  explosive. 


FIG.    115. — THE   PITTSBURGH    ENGINE,    BUILT   BY    THE   FURL   GAS   AND    MFG.    CO.,    PITTSBURGH,    PA. 


gas  has  been  taken  into  the  cylinder 
will  then  be  discharged  into  the  exhaust 
pipe  unburnt  and  without  having  given 
up  any  of  its  energy.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances the  engine  will  work  ex- 
actly as  though  no  gas  whatever  had 
been  admitted,  and  the  speed  will  cease 


No  better  evidence  is  needed  of  the 
fact  that  the  wastefulness  of  the  throt- 
tling governor  method  has  met  with  a 
fair  share  of  recognition,  than  the  ex- 
tended application  which  for  years  has 
been  given  to  what  have  been  termed 
' '  hit  -  and  -  miss  ' '  governors.  With 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


439 


these  the  strength  of  the  explosive  gas 
and  air  mixture  is  never  changed,  but 
the  number  of  explosions  in  the  engine 
cylinder  in  a  given  time  is  varied  to  suit 
the  prevailing  requirements,  being  in- 
creased when  the  speed  falls  below,  and 
decreased  when  it  rises  above  a  certain 
normal  /  or  putting  it  in  a  slightly  dif- 
ferent way,  when  the  speed  falls  off,  the 
governing  device  hits  the  stem  of  the 
gas  supply  valve,  causing  the  latter  to 
open  and  admit  gas  into  the  cylinder, 
while  when  the  speed  becomes  too  high, 
the  governor  by  changing  its  position, 
misses  the  gas  valve  stem,  the  valve 
consequently  remains  closed  and  no 
working  charge  reaches  the  cylinder. 

One  objection  to  this  method  of  gov- 
erning always  has  been  that  it  gives  the 
engine  a  jerky,  unsteady  motion  which 
is  fatal  to  success  in  electric  light  work, 
and  in  order  to  overcome  this,  some 
engine  builders  now  provide  the  gov- 
ernor cam  which  strikes  against  the  gas 
valve  spindle  with  several  steps,  so  that 
instead  of  being  either  full  on  or  full  off, 
the  gas  valve  may  be  opened  through 
intermediate  degrees.  The  strength  of 
the  explosive  mixture -may  thus  be  varied 
to  some  extent,  but  whenever  the  lower 
limit  of  gas  percentage  necessary  to 
constitute  an  explosive  charge  is 
reached,  the  gas  valve  is  closed  entirely, 
and  the  engine  then  runs  without  ex- 
plosions until  the  speed  again  drops. 
The  stepped-cam  governor,  in  fact, 
combines  a  throttling  with  a  cut-oft 
action. 

The  ideal  method  of  governing,  how- 
ever, would  seem  to  be  one  akin  to  that 
followed  in  modern,  high-class  steam 
engine  practice, — one  by  which  the 
strength  of  the  working  charge  would  be 
kept  always  the  same  and  only  the  quan- 
tity for  each  working  stroke  would  be 
varied.  In  all  processes  of  combustion 
there  is  a  certain  percentage  of  oxygen, 
which,  by  combining  with  a  certain  per- 
centage of  combustible,  produces  a 
maximum  effect,  and  any  variation  from 
these  relative  proportions  will  represent 
a  loss  of  efficiency.  This  is  fully  as  true 
of  the  combustion  of  gas  in  a  gas  engine 
cylinder  as  of  the  combustion  of  any 
other  kind  of  fuel  in  any  other  place, 


and  the  economic  bearing  of  maintain- 
ing a  constant  and  certain  strength  of 
explosive  mixture  in  gas  engine  work 
will,  therefore,  be  at  once  recognized. 

An  engine  in  which  advantage  has 
been  taken  of  this  circumstance  is  that 
recently  put  on  the  market  by  the  Fuel 
Gas  and  Manufacturing  Company,  of 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. ,  and  known  as  the  Pitts- 
burgh engine.  In  external  appearance 
it  strikes  one  much  as  one  of  the  well- 
known  Westinghouse  steam  engines. 
As  in  these,  a  crank  case  encloses 
the  bearings  and  lower  end  of  the 
cylinders.  This  case  is  filled  almost  up 
to  the  shaft  with  a  mixture  of  oil  and 
water,  into  which  the  crank  shaft  and 
connecting  rods  splash  at  every  revolu- 
tion, so  as  to  completely  deluge  the 
bearings,  piston  and  interior  of  the  cyl- 
inders, thereby  not  only  affording  copi- 
ous self-lubrication,  but  also  cooling  the 
piston.  Oil  for  the  crank  case  is  intro- 
duced through  the  main  bearings,  which 
are  supplied  from  the  only  two  oil  cups 
on  the  entire  engine.  A  simple  pipe 
connection  with  a  city  main  supplies  the 
necessary  water.  Another  pipe,  serv- 
ing to  carry  off  the  overflow,  is  made, 
by  means  of  a  funnel  head,  to  indicate 
the  level  of  the  lubricants  in  the  crank 
chamber. 

All  the  Pittsburgh  gas  engines  are 
built  with  two  cylinders  on  a  single 
shaft,  and,  as  usual,  abnormal  heating 
is  obviated  by  the  employment  of  water 
jackets.  Each  revolution  made  by  the 
engine  operates  valves  admitting  the 
gaseous  fuel  alternately  to  the  one  or 
the  other  cylinder.  As  the  period  of 
admission  is  controlled  by  a  positive 
action,  the  crank  shaft  receives  an  im- 
pulse once  each  revolution,  no  matter 
what  the  load,  but  the  energy  of  that 
impulse  is  predetermined  by  an  inde- 
pendent piston  valve.  In  order  that 
the  maximum  amount  of  energy  may  be 
developed  by  the  explosion  of  the 
gaseous  fuel,  there  is,  as  already  ex- 
plained previously,  but  one  value  that 
the  relative  amounts  of  gas  and  air  can 
bear  to  each  other,  and  the  company 
design  their  measuring  piston  valve  so 
that,  it  is  claimed,  it  always  admits  gas 
and  air  in  their  correct  proportions  for 


440 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


FIG.    Il6. — TWENTY-FIVE    HORSE-POWER   UNION    MARINE      ENGINE. 


MODERN  GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


441 


FIG.    Iiy.— THE   CHARTER    ENGINE,    BUILT   BY   THE   CHARTER   GAS   ENGINE   CO.,    STERLING,    ILL. 


producing  the  desired  maximum  result, 
but  at  the  same  time  varies  the  total 
amount  of  mixture  directly  as  the  work 
of  the  individual  piston  stroke.  The 
governor  is  mounted  upon  the  shaft, 
between  the  cranks,  and,  by  direct 
connection  between  the  eccentric  rod 
and  valve  stem,  insures  an  accurate 
and  positive  travel  to  the  measuring 
slide  valve.  The  igniter  employed  is 
of  the  electric  spark  type.  Unfortu- 
nately, more  complete  particulars  of 
this  engine  are  not  available  at  the 
present  time. 

In  connection  with  the  Union  engine, 
described  in  the  preceding  paper,  and 
built,  as  there  stated,  by  both  the  Union 
and  the  Globe  Gas  Engine  Company,  of 
San  Francisco  and  Philadelphia,  respec- 
tively, the  illustration  on  the  opposite 
page  will  prove  interesting,  represent- 
ing, as  it  does,  the  latest  type  of  double 
cylinder,  marine  engine  of  Union  make, 
rated  at  twenty-five  horse-power.  This 


engine,  according  to  advices  received 
within  the  past  few  weeks  from  the 
builders,  was  completed  only  a  short 
time  ago,  and  is  now  in  a  schooner  in 
San  Francisco  Bay  giving  highly  satis- 
factory results.  It  is  the  first  one  ot 
the  kind  that  they  have  built,  and  is 
probably  the  largest  marine  oil  engine 
now  in  use,  except  a  four-cylinder  engine 
of  forty-five  horse-power  of  somewhat 
different  form  which  was  turned  out  by 
the  same  builders  a  number  of  years 
ago.  The  main  features  of  the  engine 
are  essentially  the  same  as  those  of  the 
horizontal  Union  stationary  engine, 
shown  in  the  September  number  ;  the 
valves  and  igniting  devices  are  similarly 
operated,  and  the  same  form  of  vapor- 
izer as  that  then  illustrated  is  used. 

The  propeller  reversing  gear  shown 
tends  to  give  the  impression  that  there 
is  considerable  complication  about  the 
engine,  but  this  will  disappear  upon 
closer  study  of  the  details.  A  muffler 


442 


GASSIER' S  MAGAZINE. 


around  the  exhaust  pipe  is  used  to 
deaden  the  noise  of  the  exhaust.  The 
schooner  in  which  the  engine  is  placed 
is  S9/^  feet  long  with  14  feet  beam,  and 
carries  freight  between  San  Francisco 
and  Bodega  Bay.  On  her  trial  trip 
over  the  Government  course  in  San 
Francisco  Bay  she  developed  a  speed 
of  over  8  miles  an  hour.  This  was  re- 
garded as  a  very  good  showing,  as  the 
engine  was  new  and  stiff,  and  the  boat 
was  not  built  for  speed.  The  owners 


FIG.   1 18.— DETAILS    OF    THE    CHARTER    KNGINE. 

of  the  vessel  also  have  a  10  horse- 
power engine  in  one  of  their  other 
boats. 

As  the  last  of  the  series  of  illustra- 
tions are  presented  those  of  the  Charter 
gas  and  gasoline  engine,  which  is 
made  by  the  Charter  Gas  Engine  Com- 
pany of  Sterling,  111.,  and  which  in 
some  respects  is  similar  to  the  Caldwell- 
Charter  engine  described  in  one  of  the 
earlier  papers.  When  using  gasoline  no 
carbu  retting  device  is  used  between  the 
oil  tank  and  the  cylinder,  but  the  oil  is 
delivered  directly  into  the  suction  pipe 


by  a  pump  controlled  by  the  governor, 
a  few  drops  only  being  admitted  at  a 
time.  There  are  three  cut-offs  between 
the  tank  and  engine  cylinder,  viz.,  a 
cock  at  the  tank,  a  throttle  valve  to 
regulate  the  amount  of  gasoline  de- 
livered, and  the  plunger  of  the  pump 
just  mentioned.  The  engine  works  ac- 
cording to  the  Otto  cycle,  the  exhaust 
valve  being  pushed  open  at  every  other 
revolution  by  a  rod  worked  through  re- 
ducing gearing  from  the  crank  shaft. 
The  arrangement  of  the  gasoline  pump 
and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  controlled 
by  the  governor  will  be  easily  under- 
stood both  from  the  general  view  of  the 
engine  and  from  the  details  shown  in 
Fig.  1 1 8,  the  latter  representing  an 
elevation  and  a  plan  of  the  governor 
and  its  connections.  The  governor,  it 
will  be  observed,  is  mounted  on  a  sleeve 
on  the  main  shaft,  and  when  the  gov- 
ernor balls,  under  the  influence  of  un- 
duly high  speed,  move  outward,  the 
sleeve  is  carried  along  the  shaft  and 
moves  with  it  a  cam  roller,  which  is 
mounted  loosely  on  the  upper  end  ot 
the  rocker  arm  A.  When  so  displaced, 
this  cam  roller  is  missed  by  the  cam  on 
the  larger  of  the  two  gear  wheels  shown, 
and  the  rocker  arm,  which  is  connected 
with  the  injector  rod  operating  the  gas- 
oline pump,  remains  undisturbed,  and 
no  gasoline  is  permitted  to  enter  the 
suction  pipe  leading  to  the  cylinder. 
When,  on  the  other  hand,  the  governor 
balls  are  in  the  position  shown  in  the 
engraving,  the  cam  on  the  larger  gear 
wheel  will,  in  the  course  of  its  revolu- 
tion, come  in  contact  with  the  cam 
roller  on  the  arm  A,  force  it  over  to 
the  right,  and  cause  a  stroke  to  be 
made  by  the  gasoline  pump  through 
the  intervention  of  the  injector  rod. 
The  displacement  of  the  pump  plunger 
then  admits  the  proper  gasoline  supply 
to  the  suction  pipe,  and  the  entering 
air  carries  the  oil  along  into  the  cylin- 
der in  which  the  mixture,  after  com- 
pression, is  fired  by  a  tube  igniter.  For 
engines  above  six  horse-power  a  slightly 
different  form  of  governor  connection  is 
employed,  the  working  principle,  how- 
ever, being  the  same.  The  engine  is 
turned  out  in  sizes  of  from  one  and 


AN  EVAPORATIVE   SURFACE   CONDENSER. 


443 


one-quarter  to  thirty-five  actual  horse- 
power. 

Before  finally  leaving  the  subject,  the 
writer  would  attempt  to  forestall  criti- 
cism on  the  score  of  incompleteness  of 
the  series  of  articles  presented  by  stat- 
ing that  no  attempt  could  be  well  made 
to  embrace  in  them  all  the  engines  of 
the  class  considered  which  are  now  in 
use  and  built  in  different  countries.  It 
was  deemed  advisable,  in  fact,  at  the 
outset  to  try  to  present  only  engines  of 
English  and  American  make,  and  such 


foreign  designs  as  were  represented  in 
English  and  American  markets,  and 
even  this  undertaking  was  found  beset 
with  many  difficulties.  Aside  from  the 
fact  that  the  addresses  of  some  makers 
of  engines  could  not  be  ascertained, 
there  were  a  number  of  builders  who 
simply  ignored  requests  for  information, 
and  others  again  who  flatly  declined  to 
furnish  particulars  of  any  kind.  That 
the  list  of  engines  considered  in  these 
articles  is  by  no  means  comprehensive 
is,  therefore,  natural. 


AN    EVAPORATIVE   SURFACE   CONDENSER/ 


By  James  H.  Fitts. 


THE  condenser  herein  described 
was  built  at  the  Virginia  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  College, 
at  Blacksburgh,  Va.,  after  some  obser- 
vations were  made  on  the  rate  of 
evaporation  of  water  at  different  tem- 
peratures, and  with  a  current  of  air 
passed  over  its  surface.  Its  perform- 
ance has  been  successful  to  such  a 
degree  that  this  paper  is  presented,  in 
the  belief  that  it  will  be  of  general 
interest  to  the  profession,  and  that  it 
gives  a  practical  solution  of  the  question 
of  condensation  of  vapor  with  a  small 
water  supply. 

The  condenser  consists  of  two  rec- 
tangular end  chambers  connected  by  a 
series  of  horizontal  rows  of  tubes,  each 
row  of  tubes  being  immersed  in  a  pan 
of  water.  Through  the  spaces  between 
the  surface  of  the  water  in  each  pan 
and  the  bottom  of  the  pan  above,  air  is 
drawn  by  means  of  an  exhaust  fan.  At 
the  top  of  one  of  the  end  chambers  is 
an  inlet  for  steam,  and  a  horizontal 
diaphragm  about  midway  causes  the 
steam  to  traverse  the  upper  half  of 
the  tubes  and  back  through  the  lower. 
An  outlet  at  the  bottom  leads  to  the 
air  pump. 

*  From  a  paper   presented    at    the    International 
Engineering  Congress  at  Chicago. 


The  condenser,  exclusive  of  connec- 
tion to  the  exhaust  fan,  occupies  a  floor 
space  of  5'  4^"  x  i'  9^",  and  is  4' 
iy2"  high.  There  are  twenty-seven 
rows  of  tubes,  eight  in  some,  and  seven 
in  others  ;  210  tubes  in  all.  The  tubes 
are  of  brass,  No.  20  B.  W.  G.,  ^" 
external  diameter  and  4'  9%"  in  length. 
The  cooling  surface  (internal)  is  176.5 
square  feet. 

There  are  twenty-seven  cooling  pans, 
each  4'  9^"xi'  9^",  and  17-16" 
deep.  The  pans  have  galvanized  iron 
bottoms,  which  slide  into  horizontal 
grooves  %"  wide  and  %"  deep,  planed 
into  the  tube  sheets.  Wooden  strips 
are  fitted  into  the  grooves  below  the 
bottoms.  The  tube  sheets  form  the 
ends,  and  angle  irons  i^"x^"x;Hj" 
bolted  to  the  galvanized  bottoms,  the 
joints  packed  with  wooden  strips,  form 
the  sides.  The  total  evaporating  sur- 
face is  234.8  square  feet.  Water  is  fed 
to  every  third  pan  through  small  brass 
cocks,  and  tjjf"  overflow  pipes  feed 
the  rest.  A  wood  casing  connects  one 
side  with  a  30"  Buffalo  Forge  Co.'s 
disk  wheel,  which  is  belted  to  a  3"  x  4" 
vertical  engine. 

The  action  of  this  condenser  is  clear. 
The  passage  of  air  over  the  water  sur- 
faces removes  the  vapor  as  it  rises,  and 


444 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


thus  hastens  evaporation.  The  heat 
necessary  to  produce  evaporation  is 
obtained  from  the  steam  in  the  tubes, 
causing  the  steam  to  condense.  It  was 
designed  for  the  college  shop  engine,  to 
condense  800  pounds  steam  per  hour, 
and  give  a  vacuum  of  twenty-two 
inches,  but  it  was  found  practically 
impossible  to  get  the  long  exhaust  pipe 
air-tight,  on  account  of  its  numerous 
connections.  Direct  connection  was 
therefore  made  with  the  boiler.  A 
number  of  runs  of  several  hours'  dura- 
tion have  been  made  with  a  boiler  press- 
ure of  sixty  to  seventy  pounds.  The 
cooling  water  was  run  into  a  barrel 
placed  overhead  and  drawn  from  the 
barrel.  The  water  of  condensation  was 
weighed.  The  following  gives  average 
results  : 

Boiler  pressure,  pounds  per  square 
inch  per  gauge,  65  ;  temperatures  in 
Fahrenheit  degrees — steam,  311  ;  cool- 
water  (initial),  60  ;  water  in  pans  above 
diaphragm,  140  ;  water  in  pans  below 
diaphragm,  115  ;  hot  well,  149;  air,  70; 
dew  point,  62  ;  working  strokes  of  air 
pump,  90  ;  revolutions  of  exhaust  fan 
per  minute,  740  ;  velocity  of  air  in  feet 
per  minute,  2300  ;  quantity  of  air 
moved  in  cubic  feet  per  minute,  6500  ; 
horse-power  expanded  in  driving  fan, 
YZ  ;  barometer  in  inches,  28  ;  cooling 
water  used  per  hour  in  pounds,  1350  ; 
steam  condensed  per  hour  in  pounds, 
900 ;  vacuum  in  inches  of  mercury, 


i6}4  ;  vacuum  reduced  to  barometer  at 
thirty,  18^. 

The  overflow  pipes  for  regulating  the 
supply  of  water  were  found  to  be  too 
small,  so  that  at  times  some  pans  would 
be  too  full,  causing  waste  of  water  over 
the  edges,  and  at  others  the  tubes  would 
be  uncovered,  with  reduction  in  effi- 
ciency. This  loss  of  cooling  water  will 
account  for  the  amount  being  so  much 
in  excess  of  the  water  of  condensation. 
The  amount  of  steam  condensed,  it 
there  had  been  no  waste  of  water,  would 
have  been  about  thirty  pounds  less  than 
that  shown. 

Accurate  analysis  of  the  transfer  of 
heat  could  not  be  made  on  account  of 
this  waste.      An  approximate   analysis, 
however,   shows  that  the  cooling  water 
required  is  practically  equal  in  amount 
to  the  steam  used  by  the  engine,   and 
since  consumption  of  steam  is  reduced 
by  the  application  of  a  condenser,   its 
use  will  actually  reduce  the  total  quan- 
tity of  water  required. 

The  condenser  is  still  in  a  crude  form, 
and  there  are  many  improvements  to 
be  made  in  it.  Enough  has  been  done, 
however,  to  demonstrate  that  it  is  ap- 
plicable in  any  situation,  that  it  is  not 
expensive  to  construct,  is  perfectly 
accessible  for  cleaning,  requires  small 
power  to  operate,  and  will  give  a 
vacuum  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-two 
inches.  The  floor  space  required  is 
moderate. 


GAS  AND  OIL  ENGINES. 


A 


T  no  time  in  the 
history  of  gas 
and  oil  engines 
has  the  interest  in 
their  application  to 
every-day  work  been 
so  strongly  marked 
as  at  present.  To- 
gether with  electric 
motors,  these  engines 
have  done  much  to 
displace  small,  and 
in  many  cases  even 
large,  steam  engines, 
and  power  users  have 
commenced  to  realize 
that  for  economical,  reliable  and  con- 
venient driving,  engines  of  that  class 
are  entitled  to  very  careful  considera- 
tion. This  is  shown  by  every  new  con- 
tribution to  the  literature  of  the  subject, 
and  engineers'  discussions  of  it  at  meet- 
ings of  technical  societies. 

Among  the  latest,  and  perhaps  most 
interesting,  of  these  discussions  is  one 
which  was  held  a  short  time  ago  before 
the  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  on  the  occasion  of  a  "Gas 
and  Oil  Engine  Evening,"  and  to  the 
facts  presented  at  that  time,  and  repro- 
duced here,  in  part,  it  was  thought  well 
worth  adding  a  number  of  illustrations 
of  some  of  the  most  recent  applications 
of  the  engines  considered.  These  are 
all  suggestive  in  their  way  and  tell 
their  own  stories  at  a  glance,  more 
directly  and  more  convincingly  per- 
haps than  pages  of  texts.  The  subject 
was  introduced  by  Mr.  S.  A.  Reeve 
who,  among  other  things,  said  : — 

' '  The  status  of  the  gas  engine  depends 
entirely  upon  the  surrounding  condi- 
tions. A  plant  exists  merely  because 
the  sun  shines,  and  the  seed  has  been 
planted.  Unless  the  surrounding  con- 
ditions are  favourable,  the  plant  cannot 
exist,  and  the  amount  of  its  growth, 
and  the  character  of  its  growth,  depend 

5-2 


entirely  on  the  surrounding  conditions. 
The  gas  engine  follows  this  general  law, 
in  that  its  status  to  day  is  what  it  has 
been  forced  to  be,  and  what  it  has  been 
allowed  to  be  by  general  commercial 
and  engineering  conditions  of  the  world. 
Practically  all  other  power  that  is  in 
use  is  steam  power.  I  do  not  lose  sight 
of  the  tremendous  amount  of  water 
power  that  is  in  use.  But  water  power 
is  restricted  to  certain  localities,  and  the 
gas  engine  is  not.  It  comes  into  com- 
petition only  with  those  forms  of  power 
which  are  applicable  to  almost  any 
locality  or  set  of  conditions,  and,  aside 
from  gas  power,  steam  power  is  almost 
the  only  other  occupant  of  that  class  of 
prime  movers. 

"  The  factory  and  the  steam  engine 
grew  up  together,  and  the  idea  that  we 
carried  in  our  m  inds  of  a  commercial  man- 
ufacturing plant,  driven  by  any  power, 
was  a  set  of  tools,  driven  by  a  central 
motor  through  the  medium  of  a  line  of 
shafting  and  a  number  of  belts.  That 
scheme  of  industrial  works  grew  in  size 
and  importance  until  it  had  reached 
tremendous  proportions,  and  in  certain 
lines  of  industry  it  still  survives,  and 
will  continue  to  survive  in  the  future  in 
still  larger  sizes,  and  on  a  still  more 
important  scale.  But  for  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  industries,  these  species  of 
manufacturing  which  involve  a  varied 
number  of  processes  and  departments, 
and  involve  the  production  of  a  com- 
paratively complex  commodity,  such, 
for  instance,  as  the  building  of  steam- 
ships or  railway  cars,  or  the  complicated 
machines  involving  woodwork  and  iron- 
work and  steel-forging  work,  and  all 
that  sort  of  thing,  the  modern  factory 
is  a  collection  of  factories. 

' '  The  various  factories  may  be  merely 
departments,  merely  different  rooms  in 
one  building  or  on  one  floor.  But,  at 
any  rate,  the  factory  now  consists  of  a 
large  number  of  departments,  and  those 

48  r 


482 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


GAS  AND    OIL  ENGINES. 


483 


departments  are  quite  distinct.  They 
often  run  entirely  independently,  have 
separate  foremen  or  superintendents, 
run  different  hours,  and  have  different 
classes  of  labour.  In  some,  labour  is  a 
small  item,  and  power  is  larger.  In 
others,  power  is  a  small  item,  and  labour 
is  the  principal  feature.  All  these 
various  conditions  make  it  almost  im- 
possible for  such  an  establishment  to  be 
driven  by  one  central  prime  mover. 

"In  the  first  place,  distance  of  trans- 
mission comes  in  and  consequent  losses. 
In  the  second  place  come  in  varying 
conditions.  Every  engineer  knows 
that  no  piece  of  apparatus  can  work 
well  under  varying  conditions.  We 
have,  therefore,  seen  grow  up  the 
modern  industrial  works  in  which  power 
has  to  be  transmitted  quite  a  distance, 
and  subdivided  among  a  large  number 
of  different  sorts  of  tools.  This  was 
first  attempted  by  shafting  and  belting, 
or  by  rope  drives.  But  it  is  evident 
that  the  losses  by  transmission  are  very 
great.  Consequently  we  have  seen 
other  schemes  tried.  First  came  the 
subdivision  of  the  steam  engine  itself 
into  a  large  number  of  units,  and  we 
have  only  to  look  about  us  in  large 
factories  to  see  steam-driven  plants 
where  the  power  is  furnished  from  the 
central  boiler  plant  to  anywh  ere  from 
ten  or  a  dozen  to  70  different  engines 
scattered  all  over  the  works,  sometimes 
20  or  more  in  one  room.  Sometimes 
the  losses  in  steam  transmission  are, 
under  average  conditions,  less  than  for 
shafting  and  belting.  Of  course,  no 
cast-iron  rule  can  be  given  for  all  con- 
ditions. But  the  subdivided  steam 
plant  has  come  in  to  stay.  Of  later  years, 
superseding  the  subdivided  steam  plant, 
comes  in,  first,  compressed  air,  and 
then  electrical  transmission  and  sub- 
division of  power. 

' '  I  have  given  the  resume  of  the 
changes  of  the  power  question  to  show 
that  the  problem  of  the  present  is  eco- 
nomical transmission  of  power,  not 
economical  development  of  power.  Of 
course,  economical  development  at  the 
original  point  of  production  is  of  great 
importance,  but  it  is  vastly  more  im- 
portant to  transmit  it  economically,  be- 


cause the  losses  in  transmission  can 
easily  exceed  the  largest  losses  possible 
in  production. 

' '  Those  of  you  who  have  spent  any 
time  on  the  problem  of  the  subdivision 
of  power  or  its  transmission,  have  seen 
that  none  of  the  systems  heretofore  pro- 
vided satisfy  the  question.  They  all 
involve  tremendous  losses  in  transmis- 
sion. They  all  involve  heavy  first  cost, 
heavy  expenditure  for  generating  plant, 
transmission  plant  and  redeveloping 
plant  at  the  other  end.  For  instance, 
in  electrical  transmission,  if  your  total 
works  need  a  thousand  horse-power,  be- 
sides your  thousand  horse  -  power  of 
boilers,  you  must  follow  with  a  thousand 
horse-power  steam  engine,  a  thousand 
horse-power  generator,  your  mains  for 
carrying  the  electric  power,  and  then, 
on  top  of  that,  a  thousand  horse-power 
of  motors.  That  is,  of  course,  losing 
sight  of  all  small  factors  and  percent- 
ages of  loss.  The  present  status  of  gas 
power,  and  also  of  its  immediate  prom- 
ise for  the  future  depends  upon  this 
statement  of  the  problem  in  this  part — 
that  gas  powers  offers  the  ideal  solution 
for  the  subdivision  and  transmission  of 
power,  the  mechanical  difficulties  being, 
for  the  time,  lost  sight  of. 

"  In  other  words,  let  us  suppose  that 
a  large  industrial  plant  requiring,  say, 
1000  horse -power,  subdivided  into, 
say,  50  different  units  which  are  utilized 
at  various  points,  at  different  buildings, 
on  different  floors,  at  different  speeds, 
for  different  hours  during  the  day, 
under  different  conditions  of  varying 
and  steady  load — suppose  that  in  such 
a  plant  as  that,  we  install  a  1000  horse- 
power gas  generator  or  its  equivalent, 
and  then  lead  from  it,  or  from  the  holder 
to  a  large  number  of  gas  engines,  large 
central  gas  mains — it  is  evident  that  the 
first  cost  is  away  below  that  of  any 
system,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
the  subdivided  steam  plant,  where  our 
boiler  plant  corresponds  to  our  generat- 
ing plant,  our  steam  mains  to  our  gas 
pipes,  and  our  steam  engines  to  our  gas 
engines. 

"But  there  is  one  big  advantage 
which  a  gas  plant  has  over  a  steam  sub- 
divided plant,  in  point  of  operation, 


484 


GASSIER  'S  MAGAZINE. 


A  40   H.    P.   TANGYES  GAS   ENGINE   AND   GAS   PRODUCER  PLANT.      BUILT   BY   MESSRS. 
TANGYES,    LTD.,   BIRMINGHAM,    ENGLAND. 


and  that  is,  that  in  the  steam  subdivided 
plant,  no  matter  how  large  a  proportion 
of  the  load  be  off,  the  central  generating 
plant  must  be  run,  and  the  fixed  charges 
of  running  cannot  be  altered.  Steam 
must  be  kept  up,  the  boilers  must  be 
kept  hot,  the  stack,  if  there  be  one, 
must  be  kept  hot,  and  the  labour  must 
be  there  to  take  care  of  the  whole  mat- 
ter. I  have  myself  tested  one  factory 
in  which,  for  a  large  proportion  of  each 
day,  the  efficiency  for  the  transmission 
of  the  power  between  the  boiler  plant 
and  the  work  was  5  per  cent.,  simply 
because  they  had  to  keep  the  whole 
plant  going  in  order  to  move  one  small 
department. 

"With  the  gas  plant  that  entirely 
disappears  Your  gas  generator  works 
for  a  certain  number  of  hours  a  day,  on 
whatever  load  or  capacity  is  best  suited 
to  produce  maximum  economy,  and  as 
we  all  know,  there  is  only  one  point 
in  capacity  in  which  any  apparatus 
can  work  at  minimum  economy.  Dur- 
ing those  certain  number  of  hours  a  day 


the  generator  makes  gas  and  stores  it 
in  the  holder.  The  gas  generating 
plant  is  entirely  unconscious  of  the 
consumption  of  power,  provided  it  be 
large  enough  to  fulfill  all  demands. 
The  consumers  of  power,  the  foremen  ot 
different  departments,  are  as  unconsci 
ous  as  is  the  generating  plant  of  the 
consumption  of  power.  They  simply 
know  that  all  they  have  to  do  is  to  turn 
on  their  gas  and  start  their  engine. 
They  may  run  24  hours  in  a  day,  while 
the  gas  generator  runs  eight,  provided 
the  total  maximum  production  of  the 
gas  generator  is  large  enough  to  cover 
the  whole  output  of  power. 

' '  Comparison  between  such  a  gas 
plant  and  any  plant  relying  upon  trans- 
mission and  subdivision  of  power  by 
compressed  air  or  by  electricity,  or  by 
any  scheme  wherein  the  power  is  first 
developed  by  the  steam  engine,  and 
then  converted  into  another  form,  and 
then  converted  back  again,  is  really 
hardly  possible  from  the  economical 
standpoint.  The  operation  of  any  such 


GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


485 


gas  plant  would  be  incomparably  more 
economical  than  that  of  the  compressed 
air  or  the  electrical  or  the  hydraulic 
system  of  transmission  of  power.  I  have 
entirely  left  out  of  the  question  the 
mechanical  side  of  it,  which  I  purposely 
wished  to  do.  But  for  the  merely  com- 
mercial side  there  is  an  absolutely  un- 
limited field  for  the  development  of 
power  and  its  transmission  and  subdivi- 
sion in  industrial  works  by  means  of  the 
gas  generator  and  the  gas  engine. 

"In  nearly  all  large  textile  mills  in 
New  England,  and  in  a  great  many 
other  forms  of  industry,  steam  is  used 
as  much,  and  sometimes  more,  for  heat- 
ing purposes,  and  boiling  and  dyeing 
than  it  is  for  power.  In  fact,  the  big 
promoter  of  steam  power  in  New  Eng- 
land, where  it  has  proved  an  indispens- 
able auxiliary  of  water  power,  is  the 
fact  that  the  steam  had  to  be  had  any- 
how. That  is  true  also  of  compressed- 
air  plants.  There  are  a  great  many 
factories  where  compressed  air  is  in- 
dispensable for  blowing,  furnishing 
draft,  cleaning,  and  innumerable  pur- 
poses to  which  it  can  be  applied,  and 
in  a  great  many  plants  compressed  air 
is  used  to  transmit  and  subdivide  power 


where  no  other  system  would  be  toler- 
ated, simply  because  the  compressed 
air  has  to  be  there  anyway,  and,  this  be- 
ing so,  they  might  a  great  deal  better 
use  the  compressed  air  for  power. 

"  The  same  thing  applies  to  electric- 
ity. Those  factories  relying  on  the 
electric  current  entirely  for  light  may 
often  bring  the  power  question  into 
secondary  importance  compared  with 
light.  If  they  have  got  to  have  their 
central  engines  and  generators  and 
mains  for  the  productions  and  distribu- 
tion of  light,  and  if  they  need  light 
more  than  power,  then,  of  course,  the 
electrical  transmission  of  power  is  the 
thing,  without  regard  to  the  general 
arguments  against  it.  But  this  same 
factor  of  the  correlation  of  the  system 
of  transmission  of  power,  and  the  sys- 
tem of  transmission  of  other  forms  of 
energy  needed  in  the  works,  applies 
also  to  gas.  In  fact,  the  gas  producer 
has  reached  its  present  state  of  perfec- 
tion largely  because  of  the  fact  that  gas 
is  the  most  economical  form  of  fuel  for 
a  large  number  of  industrial  purposes — 
metallurgical,  for  glass  works,  and  for 
many  kinds  of  cooking  and  heating  and 
baking,  where  exact  control  of  tem- 


A  DOUBLE-CYLINDER  OTTO   ENGINE.      BUILT   BY   MESSRS.  CROSSLEY  BROS.,  MANCHESTER,  ENGLAND. 


486 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


GAS   AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


487 


perature  has  to  be  had.  In  all  those 
plants  the  power  may  again  become 
secondary  to  other  purposes  in  the 
factory,  and  in  those  plants  where 
generators  have  already  been  installed 
for  the  purpose  of  supplying  fuel  gas, 
the  gas  engine  follows  as  a  natural 
sequence. 

1 '  The  reply  to  this  side  of  the  dis- 
cussion is  that  the  mechanical  difficul- 
ties have  not  yet  been  overcome  ;  that 
the  gas  engine,  after  having  had  spent 
upon  it  the  best  energy  in  the  line  of 
mechanical  engineering  which  the  world 
has  been  able  to  produce  for  some 
thirty  years,  is  still  more  crude  in  a 
great  many  mechanical  features  than 
was  the  steam  engine  of  a  century  ago. 
It  is  still  very  heavy.  In  nearly  all  of 
the  devices  only  one  impulse  is  received 
by  the  fly  wheel  for  every  two  revolu- 
tions, so  that  the  fly  wheels  are  heavy. 
The  regulation,  as  a  rule,  is  accom- 
plished by  simply  dropping  out  a  certain 
proportion  of  the  impulses,  instead  of 
varying  their  strength,  and  the  neces- 
sity for  the  ignition  of  the  charge  in  a 
minute  fraction  of  a  second  has  led, 
until  very  recently,  to  extreme  uncer- 
tainty in  the  matter  of  ignition  and  also 
in  the  question  of  perfection  of  com- 
bustion. The  last  is  not  so  marked  a 
feature,  because,  even  with  poor  com- 
bustion, the  gas  engine  is  an  exceeding- 
ly economical  prime  mover,  but  the 
mechanical  difficulties  still  stand  in  the 
way  of  the  accession  of  the  gas  engine 
to  the  proper  field  in  which  it  belongs  ; 
that  is,  the  universal  factor  for  the  pro- 
duction and  transmission  and  subdivi- 
sion of  power  in  industrial  works. 

' '  At  the  risk  of  being  considered 
rather  superficial  in  skimming  over  this 
subject,  I  will  take  one  step  into  the 
future  and  say  that  while  gas  engines 
have  hitherto  been  almost  entirely  run 
with  illuminating  gas,  yet  already  con- 
siderable has  been  done  in  the  way  of 
supplying  gas  engines  with  producer 
gas  from  special  producers  built  for  that 
purpose.  There  has  also  come  upon 
the  field — I  will  just  mention  it — the  in- 
candescent gas  burner — that  is,  it  has 
just  begun  to  attract  wide  attention  as 
being  an  established  fact.  These  two 


coupled  together — first,  that  the  gas 
engine  can  be  run  much  more  economi- 
cally upon  producer  gas,  not  illuminat- 
ing gas,  than  it  can  upon  illuminating 
gas,  and,  second,  that  there  is  a  means 
attained  of  producing  illumination  by  a 
non -luminous  gas,  lead  us  to  the  sur- 
mise that  the  near  future  will  see  the 
distribution  of  energy  —  all  energy — 
which  is  derived  from  coal  in  the  form 
of  a  non -luminous,  cheaply  produced 
fuel  gas,  that  this  gas  will  be  relied  on 
entirely  for  power,  for  lighting,  where 
gas  lighting  at  all  is  permissible ;  and 
where  it  is  not,  where  the  electric  light 
is  needed,  that  electric  light  will  be  pro- 
duced through  the  medium  of  gas  en- 
gines, and  that  this  same  gas  will  be 
used  for  all  sorts  of  fuel  and  heating 
purposes — domestic  heating  and  cook- 
ing and  industrial  heating  of  all  sorts. 

' '  I  have  tried  to  make  as  brief  a 
statement  as  I  could  of  the  gas-engine 
problem  as  it  appears  to  me  to-day,  not 
on  the  basis  of  the  condition  of  the  gas 
engine  itself,  but  as  a  statement  of  its 
possibilities,  the  demands  which  are 
going  to  be  made  upon  it  in  the  near 
future,  and  what  the  near  future  may 
bring  forth  in  the  way  of  a  powerful 
auxiliary  to  aid  in  the  adoption  of  the 
gas  engine  as  the  universal  prime 
mover." 

Prof.  Wm.  S.  Aldrich  said  :  "  Some 
of  the  chief  difficulties  to  the  extended 
introduction  of  the  gas  engine  have  been 
gradually  removed  by  the  improve- 
ments in  methods  and  apparatus  for  the 
manufacture  of  producer  gas  on  a  small, 
yet  economical,  scale.  In  this,  as  in 
other  branches  of  engineering,  the  law 
of  supply  and  demand  operates  to  mut- 
ual advantage,  and  isolated  gas-engine 
plants  are  rapidly  coming  to  the  front. 
On  the  other  hand,  for  the  distribution 
of  power  from  a  central  plant  to  greater 
or  less  distances,  gas  offers  peculiar  ad- 
vantages. There  are  practically  no 
losses  in  distributing  the  gas  in  pipe 
lines,  except  leakages,  which  can  affect 
the  economy  of  the  distribution.  Losses 
of  pressure  and  temperature  changes  do 
not  in  the  least  affect  the  economy  ol 
the  gas  engine  at  the  end  of  the  line. 
Therefore,  the  distribution  of  power  by 


488 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


A   GASOLINE   TRACTION   ENGINE.    BUILT   BY  THE   VAN   DUZEN   GAS   AND   GASOLINE    ENGINE   CO., 

CINCINNATI,    OHIO,   U.   S.    A. 


gas,  and  its  utilization  by  gas  engines, 
scattered  over  a  widely  extended  area, 
may  come  to  be  a  rival  of  some  of  the 
other  methods.  And  the  facility  of 
storage  and  use  of  gas  for  heating  are 
additional  advantages. 

"  It  seemed  doubtful  for  a  long  time 
whether  gas  engines  could  be  made  and 
economically  managed  in  large  units  ; 
but  their  present  use  up  to  3Oo-horse 
power  and  the  contemplated  manufact- 
ure of  gas  engines  of  500  horse-power 
and  upwards,  leave  no  room  for  serious 
doubting.  But  it  is  open  to  discussion 
whether  there  is  the  same  inherent  gain 
in  economy  in  the  use  of  large  gas  en- 
gines as  in  the  case  of  steam  engines. 
Of  course,  on  the  general  principles  of 
power  production,  large  units  are  more 
economical  per  horse-power  than  small 
units.  Nevertheless,  there  is  scarcely 
an  argument  advanced  for  the  use  of 
large  steam  engines  that  can  be  simi- 
larly advanced  in  the  case  of  gas  en- 
gines. 

"In  the  matter  of  arrangement  of 
gas-engine  cylinders,  there  is  undoubted 


preference  manifested  for  the  vertical 
type,  and  in  pairs,  with  cranks  at  180 
degrees  apart.  Four-cylinder  or  qua- 
druplex  gas  engines  are  being  seriously 
considered,  to  gain  an  additional  ad- 
vantage along  the  same  lines  as  the 
two-cylinder,  or  duplex  type,  namely, 
a  greater  number  of  explosions  per 
revolution,  and,  consequently,  an  in- 
creased opportunity  to  control  the  sup- 
ply and  explosions  according  to  the 
load. 

' '  As  rotating  or  rotary  gas  engines 
have  been  suggested,  it  may  be  well  to 
note  some  of  the  advantages  arising 
from  using  the  explosions  of  the  gas  in 
much  the  same  manner  as  the  Pelton 
wheel  utilizes  the  steadily  applied  im- 
pact of  the  water.  The  losses  due  to 
connecting  rod  mechanisms  are  elimi- 
nated ;  the  highest  speed  may  be  ob- 
tained and  controlled — especially  to  be 
desired  in  direct  connection  to  dynamos; 
multiple  discharge  jets  (or  explosion 
pockets)  may  be  arranged,  as  in  the 
Pelton  wheel ;  the  force  of  the  explosion 
may  be  most  directly  utilized  in  a  tan- 


GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


489 


gential  manner ;  the  internal  friction 
will  be  reduced  to  a  minimum  ;  the  best 
opportunities  will  be  presented  for  reg- 
ulating against  the  rapidly  varying 
loads  of  electrical  supply  service  ;  and, 
probably,  a  greatly  increased  economy 
will  result  in  the  use  of  gas. 

1 '  In  matter  of  speed   regulation,   gas 
engines  have  had  an  unenviable  reputa- 


given  speed,  at  which  load  there  is  the 
least  expenditure  of  gas  per  horse-power 
per  hour.  In  this  way  it  is  possible  to 
establish  a  very  satisfactory  basis  for 
rating  gas  engines,  that  is,  by  their 
most  economical  performance.  If  gas 
engines  could  be  tested  and  the  curves 
of  performance  plotted,  the  whole  gas- 
engine  business  would  at  once  be  placed 


FRONT  VIEW  OF  THE   VAN   DUZEN   GASOLINE 
TRACTION   ENGINE. 


tion,  more  due  to  the  inherent  difficulties 
of  control  than  to  any  lack  of  inventive 
ability  along  this  line.  Always  single- 
acting,  frequently  run  at  low  speeds, 
and  sometimes  with  rapidly  varying 
loads,  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand 
that  during  one  or  more  strokes  the 
supply  of  gas  may  be  entirely  omitted, 
and  the  unusually  heavy  fly  wheel  drawn 
upon  to  meet  the  periodic  variations  in 
the  supply  of  energy. 

"  Respecting  the  conditions  of  maxi- 
mum economy  in  the  use  of  gas,  it  has 
been  found  that  there  is  a  certain  best 
load,  for  any  given  engine  running  at  a 


on  as  satisfactory  and  substantial  a  basis 
as  is  now  the  case  with  turbines.  The 
establishment  of  such  a  gas-engine  test- 
ing plant  is  urgently  needed.  It  would 
go  far  towards  giving  much  needed  ad- 
ditional encouragement  to  well-directed 
efforts  in  the  development  of  the  gas 
engine,  as  well  as  serve  to  forestall  fruit- 
less attempts  in  the  same  line." 

Mr.  W.  Lawrence  Wildy,  represen- 
tative of  Messrs.  Richard  Hornsby  & 
Sons,  of  Grantham,  England,  builders 
of  the  Hornsby- Akroyd  oil  engine, 
said  : — "  Most  of  you  know,  doubtless, 
that  the  producer  is  an  ordinary  cylin- 


490 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


LOCOMOTIVE   CRANE,    WORKED   BY   A   ROOTS   OIL   ENGINE.        BUILT   BY   CLARKE'S   CRANK 
AND   FORGE   CO.,   LTD.,   LINCOLN,   ENGLAND. 


drical  vessel  lined  with  fire  brick,  and 
more  or  less  intricate  in  shape,  accord- 
ing to  the  inventor's  idea  of  what  his 
patent  is,  and  with  certain  cooling  sur- 
faces, or  heating  surfaces,  or  conducting 
surfaces,  or  something  ;  but  you  will 
find  150,000  patents  in  the  patent 
journal,  doubtless,  and  they  have  all 
got  something  about  them.  But  the 
simplest  producer  I  have  ever  used  was 
a  column  of  fuel  about  10  feet  high. 
The  fuel  we  used  was  coke — the  coke 
which  after  distillation  of  the  gaseous 
product  was  a  residue  which  went  to 
make  the  cost  of  the  production  of  gas 
a  mere  cipher  to  the  corporation  running 
that  gas  concern.  In  Leeds,  where  I 
had  my  experience  principally,  the  gas 
which  was  distributed  through  the 
houses  cost  nothing  in  the  holder — it 
was  all  profit.  I  have  seen  the  figures, 
and  I  have  gone  into  it  with  the  chair- 
man of  the  Gas  Committee  of  the  Leeds 
Corporation,  and  it  is  a  fact  that  it  was 
a  decimal  short  of  nothing  in  the  holder. 
"  The  by-products  from  making  the 
bituminous  gas  were  so  valuable  at  that 


time,  that  they  paid  all  the  expense,  in- 
terest and  depreciation  of  plant,  and  the 
gas  in  the  holder  cost  nothing  but  dis- 
tribution and  collection  of  accounts. 
We  were  using  enormous  quantities  of 
gas  for  welding  steel  tubes.  We  make 
tubes  of  varying  diameters  from  20 
inches  to  60  inches,  and  these  varied 
in  thickness  from  W  to  ^,  and  we 
welded  these  with  the  ordinary  coal  gas, 
and  our  gas  bill  ran  from  ^6006  to 
^7000  a  year.  I  got  hold  of  this 
water-gas  process,  as  it  was  used  in 
Germany  at  the  time,  and  I  saw  that  it 
afforded  a  very  good  heating  medium, 
very  cheaply  produced,  and  we  went  in 
for  a  plant  there.  The  plant  was  a  mag- 
nificent success,  so  far  as  we  were  con- 
cerned. It  reduced  our  gas  bill  fiom 
between  ^6000  and  £7000  to  just 
over  ^1000  a  year — fuel,  interest,  de- 
preciation, labour,  distribution — every- 
thing concerned  came  just  over  ^1000 
a  year,  or  something  under  one-sixth  of 
what  we  paid  before.  The  gas  cost  us 
on  an  average  about  three  pence  half- 
penny per  1000  cubic  feet.  We  made 


GAS  AND    OIL    ENGINES. 


491 


only  water  gas,  but  we  got  no  by-prod- 
ucts, and  it  therefore  cost  us  something 
in  the  holder.  In  the  water-gas  busi- 
ness there  are  no  by-products. 

"In  the  oil  engine  we  have  a  machine 
which  works  with  the  ordinary  petroleum 
of  commerce,  that  is,  any  of  the  lighting 
oils  which  are  in  the  market.  It  will 
also  work  with  the  heavier  oils  up  to  the 
specific  gravity  of  .9,  and  it  will  work 
with  an  oil  having  a  flash  point  of  any- 
thing that  the  ordinary  oils  have,  and 
up  to  320°  Fahr.  is  a  pretty  strong  oil. 
The  process  through  which  this  oil  goes 
to  produce  its  power  is  as  follows  : — The 
engine  is  provided  at  the  back  of  the 
cylinder  with  a  small  cylindrical  cham- 
ber, which  we  call  the  vapourizer.  On 
to  this  vapourizer  is  fixed  a  valve  cham- 
ber, which  really  holds  two  valves,  and 
which  are  the  governour  valves  of  the  . 
engine;  the  one  opens  inward  to  the 
vapourizer,  the  other  opens  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  governour  outward,  and, 
through  a  small  pipe,  conveys  any  oil 
which  is  not  required,  back  into  the 
tank  from  which  the  pump  has  drawn 


it.  The  rest  of  the  construction  of  the 
engine,  so  far  as  its  communicating  the 
power  imparted  to  it  is  concerned,  is 
almost  identical  with  the  gas  engine — a 
trunk  piston  and  connecting  rod,  and 
crank  shank  ;  on  the  crank  shaft  a  pair 
of  skew  wheels,  the  skew  wheels  driving 
a  shaft — almost  identical  again  with  the 
gas  engine — which  shaft  communicates 
motion,  first,  to  the  governours,  and 
then  to  two  valves,  one  for  the  air  inlet, 
and  the  other  for  the  exhaust ;  the  air 
inlet  cam,  at  the  same  time,  operates  a 
small  pump,  from  ^  to  i  %  inches  in 
diameter,  according  to  the  power  of  the 
engine  to  be  developed,  and  this  pump 
has  a  stroke  which  can  be  adjusted  by 
the  regulation  of  the  screw — that  is,  the 
oil  pump — so  that  the  amount  of  oil 
which  is  injected  into  the  vapourizer  is 
exactly  in  proportion  to  the  power  the 
engine  requires.  Suppose  you  are 
running  the  engine  at  half  power,  you 
run  the  pump  at  half  stroke  ;  if  you 
are  running  the  engine  at  full  power,  you 
run  the  pump  at  full  stroke,  that  is,  it 
you  know  you  are  going  to  do  so.  But 


A  CROSSLEY  OTTO  GAS   ENGINE   AND   AIR   COMPRESSOR  COMBINED. 


49  2 


CASSIE&'S  MAGAZINE. 


A  CROSSLEY  OTTO   PORTABLE    GAS    ENGINE. 


if  you  are  running  the  engine  at  full 
power,  and  throw  oft  half  the  machines, 
the  governour  will  do  that,  but  the  effect 
will  not  be  so  perfect  as  if  you,  know- 
ing what  you  want,  reduce  it  yourself. 
The  exhaust  valve  has  a  double  cam, 
very  similar  to  that  of  the  gas  engine,  by 
which  a  portion  of  the  compression  can 
be  released  when  starting  the  engine. 
Now,  in  operating  the  engine  you  be- 
gin by  heating  the  vapourizer  with  a 
lamp — an  ordinary  paraffin  lamp  with  a 
circular  wick — to  which  a  small  fan  is 
attached,  producing,  for  the  time  being, 
a  little  petroleum  forge.  It  takes  from 
five  to  ten  minutes  to  heat  that  vapour- 
izer. The  only  process  is  to  fill  the 
lamp  and  turn  the  fan  handle.  As  soon 
as  it  is  hot  enough,  you  can  turn  your 
fly  wheel,  and  your  engine  goes  off  at 
full  cock  ;  it  is  ready  immediately,  and 
it  goes  off  at  full  power  then  and  there, 
governing  itself.  The  continual  com- 
bustion of  the  oil  in  the  vapourizer  re- 
stores to  the  vapourizer  the  heat  which 
has  been  extracted  by  the  vapourization 
of  the  oil  and  the  heating  of  the  air 


necessary  to   produce    the   subsequent 
explosion. 

' '  These  engines  have  been  running 
continuously  for  two  months,  day  and 
night,  without  stopping,  without  any 
hitch  whatever,  and  the  higher  the 
work  that  is  taken  out  of  the  engine,  up 
to  full  power,  the  better  the  engine 
works.  At  very  low  powers  the  engine 
will  want  a  little  nursing,  perhaps,  but 
at  full  power  she  will  work  right  along. 
We  start  our  engine  at  5.30  in  the 
morning,  and  the  men  come  in  at  six 
o'clock,  and  she  is  never  looked  at 
again,  except  when  the  man  goes  in 
at  dinner  time  and  oils  her,  and  at  half- 
past  five,  when  he  goes  to  stop  her, 
and  there  is  no  outside  flame,  no  ex- 
posed red  heat  or  dangerous  flame  ot 
any  sort  about  the  engine." 

Asked  what  he  meant  by  nursing, 
Mr.  Wildy  said  that  if  the  engine  had 
to  run  light  for  five  or  six  hours,  which 
probably  no  sane  man  would  do  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  it  is  possible 
that  he  may  want  to  put  a  little 
brake  onto  the  engine  or  some- 


GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


493 


thing  of  that  sort — to  put  a  little  work 
on  her. 

Asked  if  there  was  any  residuum  in 
the  cylinder,  he  said: — "None  what- 
ever. We  have  run  for  two  months 
and  there  was  not  as  much  as  you  could 
wipe  off  with  your  hand. 

' '  The  consumption  runs  about  seven- 
eighths  of  a  pint  of  American  daylight  or 
water- white  per  horse-power  on  all  sizes 
of  engines.  It  runs  a  little  lower,  but 
only  a  little  lower,  on  the  larger  engines 
than  on  the  smaller  ones.  The  very  small 
ones  will  run  on  a  pint.  There  is  greater 
loss  owing  to  the  friction  of  the  engine 
itself.  I  am  giving  you  the  brake  horse- 
power, not  indicated  horse-power.  We 
sell  the  engine  on  the  power  which  the 
purchaser  is  going  to  get  off  the  fly 


"  The  pressures  in  the  oil  engine  are 
rather  lower  than  in  gas  engines.  In 
the  Scotch  gas  I  have  had  as  much  as 
210  pounds  initial  pressure  in  the  gas 
engine.  The  consequence  is  that  the 
terminal  pressure  is  so  high  that  the  ex- 
haust becomes  noisy." 

The  following  discussion  was  con- 
tributed by  Mr.  Paul  Winand,  superin- 


A  VAN   DUZEN   PORTABLE   GASOLINE   ENGINE,    SAW   AND   PUMP   COMBINED. 


wheel.  He  doesn't  care  what  the  power 
is  in  the  cylinder.  A  16  horse-power 
engine  uses  just  .8  of  a  pint. 

"  In  Russia  they  are  adopting  these 
engines  and  we  cannot  keep  pace  with 
them.  With  us  in  England  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  consideration,  because  the  oil 
which  I  understand  you  give  about  7 
cents  a  gallon  for,  costs  us  about  6 
pence  half-penny  a  gallon.  They  are 
doing  wonderfully  well  with  the  engines 
over  there.  Every  class  of  power-user 
is  adopting  them,  to  the  rejection  of  all 
steam  engines,  up  to  50  or  60  horse- 
power. They  are  in  the  hands  of 
stablemen,  gardeners,  coachmen,  all 
sorts  of  people,  who,  after  they  are 
once  instructed,  know  what  to  do. 


tendent  of  the  Otto  Gas  Engine  Works, 
Philadelphia,  U.  S.  A.  :- 

' '  Concerning  gas  lighting  by  incan- 
descent burners,  I  know  by  actual  ex- 
periment that  the  temperature  obtained 
from  producer  gas  is  not  sufficient  for 
the  purpose.  On  account  of  the  large 
percentage  of  inert  gases  which  it 
necessarily  contains,  it  is  not  even 
economical  to  enrich  it  for  lighting  pur- 
poses. However,  by  reason  of  the 
cheapness  of  the  power  obtained  from 
this  gas,  electric  lighting  is  generally 
the  best  possible  way  of  providing 
light  in  such  an  installation.  Pure 
water  gas,  though  it  can  well  be  used 
in  incandescent  burners,  is  more  ex- 
pensive per  heat  unit,  and,  on  the 


494 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


whole,    cannot  compete  with    producer 
gas. 

"  It  is  generally  thought  that  by  in- 
creasing the  number  of  impulses,  the 
gas  engine  can  be  greatly  improved  as 
far  as  regularity  of  motion  is  concerned. 
This  is  only  an  argument  of  relative 
value,  however,  as  the  question  resolves 
itself  to  this  :— 

' '  Whatever  the  number  of  impulses 
may  be,  there  must  be  fly  wheels  of 
sufficient  momentum  to  produce  the 
desired  degree  of  regularity.  Now,  is 
it  cheaper,  more  economical  and  gener- 
ally preferable  to  have  a  simple  engine 
with  a  large  amount  of  momentum,  or  a 
more  complicated  one  with  smaller  fly 
wheels?  The  same  regularity  can  be 
obtained  in  all  cases,  and  it  has  not 
been  proved  that  a  simple  engine  of 
sufficiently  high  speed  is  not  the  more 
preferable  solution.  Considerable  ex- 
perience in  this  line  has  shown  to  me 
that  it  would  be  decidedly  wrong  to 
complicate  the  construction  in  order  to 
get  more  than  one  impulse  for  each  rev- 
olution. I  should  wish  to  emphasize 
the  point  made  relative  to  the  use  of 
fuel  gas  for  industrial  heating  purposes 
concurrently  with  its  use  for  power. 
The  advantages  of  gaseous  fuel  when 
applied  not  only  on  a  large  scale,  as  for 
metallurgical  operations,  but  in  smaller 
apparatus  of  various  kinds,  are  being 
gradually  recognized. 

' '  A  set  of  engines  at  Danbury,  Conn. , 
were  built  by  the  Otto  Gas  Engine 
Works  with  the  provision  that  they 
could  be  operated  indiscriminately  by 
producer  gas  or  by  illuminating  gas. 
The  latter  gas  having  about  six  times 
the  heating  value  of  the  former,  it  will 
be  easily  understood  that  a  compromise 
had  to  be  resorted  to  in  the  construc- 
tion, the  result  being  that  the  engines 
do  not  give  the  best  possible  efficiency 
in  either  case.  Engines  built  solely 
for  producer  gas  would  give  better 
results. 

"  Since  steam  is  used  in  the  Danbury 
plant  for  various  purposes,  it  was  quite 
natural  to  employ  a  small  steam  engine 
for  starting  the  gas  engines.  The  large 
engines  built  now  by  us  are  provided 
with  a  self-starting  device  which  renders 


the  use  of  auxiliary  power  unnecessary 
and  greatly  enhances  the  convenience 
of  operating  the  plant. 

"  The  efficiency  of  a  plant  depends 
on  the  choice  of  the  units  of  power,  and 
perhaps  a  better  result  could  be  obtained 
in  this  case,  if  the  units  were  differently 
selected.  It  should  also  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  producer  used  is  large, 
and  would  be  capable  of  furnishing  gas 
for  a  greater  amount  of  power,  especi- 
ally if  the  load  factor  was  more  favour- 
able as  it  would  be,  for  instance,  in  the 
operation  of  a  mill  or  of  a  water-works, 
and  I  might  well  state  here  that  gas 
power  is  being  used  extensively  in 
Europe  for  the  last  named  purposes. 

' '  Up  to  this  date  it  has  been  custom- 
ary to  use  a  steam  boiler  in  connection 
with  the  producer.  This  is  not  a 
necessity,  however,  and  we  operate  in 
our  works  a  producer  plant  without 
boiler.  The  necessary  amount  of  water 
vapour  which  passes  with  the  air  through 
the  producer  is  generated  at  atmos- 
pheric pressure  by  means  of  the  waste 
heat  of  the  gas  as  it  leaves  the  producer. 
There  is  thus  no  additional  fuel  used  for 
producing  steam,  and,  besides,  the 
operation  of  the  apparatus  is  rendered 
almost  automatic. 

"  Despite  statements  to  the  contrary, 
oil  engines  have  been  manufactured  in 
the  United  States  for  several  years,  and 
considerable  effort  has  been  made  for 
their  introduction.  We  ourselves  are 
fully  prepared  to  begin  their  manufact- 
ure if  a  sufficient  demand  should  arise. 
But  in  view  of  the  fact  that  gasoline  en- 
gines are  so  much  preferable  in  most 
every  respect,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  demand  for  oil  engines  should  be  so 
small.  Gasoline  engines  have  all  the 
advantages  of  gas  engines,  and  in 
some  of  those  built  in  the  United  States 
to-day  the  provisions  for  safety  are  so 
absolute  that  the  insurance  companies 
have  no  objection  to  their  use.  Besides 
the  objectionable  smell  which  seems  in- 
separable from  the  oil  engine,  there  is 
the  objection  of  its  not  being  ready  for 
starting  at  a  moment's  notice.  Oil  en- 
gines are  naturally  wasteful  when  run- 
ning at  partial  and  variable  load.  This 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  proper  de- 


GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


495 


THE  DAIMLER  GASOLINE  MOTOR  CARRIAGE  WHICH  WON  THE  FIRST  PRIZE  IN 
THE  PARIS  ROAD  CONTEST. 


gree  of  temperature  is  not  maintained 
at  the  different  loads  which  occur  in 
practice.  When  a  continuous  external 
flame  is  used  for  maintaining  this  tem- 
perature the  fuel  consumed  in  this 
flame  decreases  the  efficiency  at  reduced 
loads. 


' '  The  oil  engine  described  by  ;Mr. 
Wildy  was  exhibited  at  the  World's 
Fair.  In  this  engine  the  ignition  of  the 
charge  depends  on  the  temperature 
of  the  chamber,  which  is  left  uncooled 
at  the  rear.  The  temperature  of  this 
chamber,  and  consequently  the  time  of 


GAS  ENGINE,   BUILT  BY  MESSRS.   ROBEY  &  CO.,  LTD.,   LINCOLN,   ENGLAND. 


49<5 


CASSIER'S  MAGAZINE. 


ignition  vary  with  the  load,  and  this 
circumstance  produces  an  additional 
variation  of  the  efficiency  with  the  load. 

"  Oil  engines  are  naturally  somewhat 
more  complicated,  more  expensive,  and 
less  convenient  than  gasoline  engines, 
and  unless  there  be  a  marked  difference 
in  the  prices  of  the  two  fuels,  the  latter 
would  seem  preferable  in  most  cases." 

Concerning  oil  engines  generally, 
and  particularly  the  already-mentioned 
Hornsby-Akroyd  engine,  built  in  Eng- 
land by  Messrs.  Richard  Hornsby  & 
Sons,  of  Grantham,  and  in  America  by 
the  De  La  Vergne  Refrigerating  Ma- 
chine Co.,  of  New  York,  Mr.  Geo. 
Richmond  has  sent  us  the  following  : — 

' '  The  term  oil  engine  is  not  infre- 
quently used,  in  a  very  loose  manner, 
to  describe  a  variety  of  engines  in  con- 
nection with  which  oil  is  used  as  a  fuel. 
Steam  engines  in  which  steam  is 
generated  by  liquid  fuel  are  sometimes 
called  oil  engines.  Gas  engines,  for 
which  the  gas  is  prepared  on  the  spot 


by  carburetting  oil  with  naphtha  or 
gasoline,  are  also  improperly  called  oil 
engines.  The  term  is  properly  re- 
stricted to  an  engine  using  a  heavy  oil 
from  which  gas  cannot  be  made  without 
the  application  of  heat. 

"  As  a  thermal  machine,  the  oil  en- 
gine stands  about  on  a  par  with  the  gas 
engine,  and  both  are  in  this  respect 
very  much  superior  to  the  steam  en- 
gine. The  gas  engine,  however,  is 
more  costly  to  run  when  illuminating 
gas  is  used,  for  the  reason  that  the  gas 
companies  charge  a  very  much  higher 
price  per  thermal  unit  in  the  form  of 
gas  than  the  coal  merchant  does  for  the 
same  amount  in  the  form  of  coal.  The 
oil  engine  is  cheaper  than  the  gas  en- 
gine in  running  for  the  reason  that  the 
cost  per  thermal  unit  in  the  form  of  oil 
is  very  much  less  than  the  cost  of  the 
same  in  illuminating  gas. 

"  The  oil  engine  really  dates  as  far 
back  as  the  gas  engine,  but  while  the 
latter  rapidly  reached  a  practical  and 


THE   HORNSBY-AKROYD   OIL   ENGINE,    BUILT   BY   MESSRS.    R.    HORNSBY  &  SONS,   LTD.,    GRANTHAM, 
ENGLAND,   AND   THE   DE   LA   VERGNE  REFRIGERATING    MACHINE   CO.,   NEW   YORK. 


GAS  AND    OIL  ENGINES. 


497 


economic  position,  the  former  has  not 
been  put  into  an  acceptable  shape  until 
quite  recently.  While  an  American 
can  claim  the  honour  of  producing  the 
first  practical  oil  engine,  its  develop- 
ment was  left  to  Europeans.  Brayton,  in 
1872,  patented  and  constructed  at 
Exeter,  in  the  United  States,  an  engine 
using  a  heavy  oil.  A  careful  trial  of  a 
5  horse-power,  American  Brayton  pe- 
troleum engine  was  made  at  Glasgow  by 
Mr.  Dugald  Clerk  in  1878.  The  mean 
pressure  was  30.2  pounds  per  square 
inch,  diameter  of  cylinder  8  inches, 
length  of  stroke  12  inches.  The  engine 
made  201  revolutions  per  minute,  and 
the  consumption  of  petroleum  was  2.16 
pounds  per  indicated  horse- power  per 
hour.  Much  of  the  total  power  devel- 
oped was  absorbed  in  driving  the  air  and 
petroleum  pumps,  or,  in  other  words, 
there  was  a  good  deal  of  friction.  Dur- 
ing the  trial  the  engine  indicated  9.5 
horse-power  in  the  motor  cylinder.  Of 
this  the  pump  absorbed  4.  i  horse- 
power ;  therefore,  the  available  horse- 
power was  only  5.4.  Only  6  per  cent, 
of  the  total  heat  generated  was  utilized. 
' '  The  oil  engine  of  the  present  day 
will  convert  into  work  20  per  cent,  of 
the  heat,  and  use  somewhat  less  than 
one  pound  of  oil  per  indicated  horse- 
power. The  chief  practical  objections 
to  the  gas  and  oil  engines  is  the  neces- 
sity of  igniting  the  charge.  The  in- 
genious arrangement  of  Otto  for  trans- 
porting a  flame  into  the  body  of  the 
cylinder  was  in  its  day  considered  a 
triumph  of  mechanical  skill.  The  dry 
heat  to  which  the  valve  was  subjected 
caused  rapid  deterioration  and  required 
frequent  attention.  This  was  followed 
by  what  is  known  as  tube  ignition,  in 
which  a  tube  is  maintained  at  a  red  heat 
by  a  gas  jet.  The  tube,  like  an  incan- 
descent lamp,  has  a  life-time  of  a  certain 
number  of  hours,  and  is  certain  to  split, 
sometimes  sooner,  sometimes  later.  The 
third  mode  of  ignition  is  the  electric 
spark,  for  which  a  battery  and  spark 
coil  must  be  kept  in  good  running 
order.  This,  however,  gives  less  trouble 
than  the  contact  points  themselves 
within  the  cylinder,  which  are  liable  to 
become  covered  with  incrustation. 

5-3 


"  The  two  systems  of  tube  and  electric 
ignition  have  each  their  advocates  who 
claim  great  things  for  them.  The  fact 
that  there  are  innumerable  patents  for 
improving  them  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  the  difficulties  sought  to  be  over- 
come are  not  entirely  imaginary,  of 


FIG.  3. 
HORNSBY-AKROYD    ENGINE  DIAGRAMS. 

+  Indicates  pure  air.     o  Indicates  oil.     o  Indicates 
products  of  combustion. 

which  fact  no  one  is  better  aware  than 
the  user  of  a  gas  engine.  It  is  worth 
while  recalling  the  fact  that  Beau  de 
Rochas,  who  described,  even  if  he  did 
not  use,  the  four  cycle,  now  known 
under  the  name  of  Otto,  recommends 
that  the  compression  should  be  carried 
to  a  point  at  which  the  explosion  would 
be  automatic. 

"  In  the  Hornsby-Akroyd  engine  we 
have  the  first  example  of  a  perfectly 
successful  carrying  out  of  this  idea.  The 
automatic  explosion  is  not,  in  itself,  diffi- 
cult to  realize.  The  real  difficulty  is  in 
securing  this  explosion  exactly  at  the 
moment  required.  The  introduction  of 
valve-motion  for  timing  the  explosion 


498 


CASSSZX'S  MAGAZINE. 


A   PORTABLE   HORNSBY-AKROYD   OIL    ENGINE. 


would  naturally  suggest  itself,  but  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  such  valves 
would  be  subjected  to  a  temperature 
considerably  above  red  heat.  The 
manner  in  which  this  explosion  is  ob- 
tained in  the  Hornsby-Akroyd  engine 
is  illustrated  in  Figs,  i,  2  and  3,  on  the 
preceding  page.  The  cylinder,  it  will  be 
seen,  is  provided  with  an  extension, 
communicating  with  the  cylinder  by  a 
relatively  narrow  neck.  This  extension 
is  unjacketed,  and  forms  a  retort  in 
which  the  oil  is  vapourized.  Nothing 
but  oil  in  the  liquid  form  is  injected 
into  the  retort,  and  only  air  is  drawn 
into  the  cylinder.  The  operation, 
which  is  perfectly  clear  from  the  cuts,  is 
as  follows  : — 

' '  On  the  outer  stroke  of  the  piston,  air 
is  drawn  into  the  cylinder,  and  oil  is  in- 
jected into  the  red  hot  retort.  At  the 
end  of  the  stroke  we  have,  therefore, 
in  the  retort,  oil  vapour,  which  is  not 
explosive,  and,  in  the  cylinder,  pure  air, 
which  is  not  explosive  ;  nor  is  there 
sufficient  leakage  from  the  one  to  the 
other  to  make  either  of  the  charges  ex- 
plosive. On  the  return  stroke  of  the 
piston,  the  air  is  forced  from  the  cylin- 
der through  the  communicating  neck 


into  the  retort.  For  a  time  the  mix- 
ture of  oil,  vapour  and  air  is  too  rich  for 
explosion,  but,  as  the  piston  progresses, 
sufficient  air  is  forced  in  to  make  the 
mixture  explosive. 

"Fig.  2  shows  the  mixing  process,  and 
Fig.  3,  by  the  conventional  marking, 
indicates  that  the  explosion  has  taken 
place,  and  the  cylinder  and  retort  are 
filled  with  burned  gases.  This  auto- 
matic explosion  is  found  to  take  place 
exactly  as  the  piston  is  making  the  re- 
turn stroke. 

"  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  ignition 
takes  place  within  the  retort,  the  piston 
being  protected  by  a  layer  of  pure  air. 
It  is  not  claimed,  of  course,  that  these 
diagrams  are  exact  representations  ol 
what  actually  takes  place  within  the 
cylinder  ;  nevertheless,  their  substan- 
tial correctness  seems  to  be  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  the  piston  rings  do  not  be- 
come clogged  with  tarry  substance,  as 
is  usually  the  case  with  this  class  of 
engine.  This  surplus  air  should  ensure 
complete  combustion,  and  that  it  is  ac- 
complished is  evident  from  careful 
analysis  that  have  been  made. 

4 '  At  the  De  La  Vergne  Refrigerating 
Machine  Company's  Works,  at  New 


GAS  AND    OIL   ENGINES. 


499 


York,  a  Hornsby-Akroyd  oil  engine  is 
running  some  wood  working  machinery 
for  the  pattern  shop,  and  it  is  interest- 
ing to  watch  the  promptness  with  which 
the  governour  adjusts  the  quantity  of 


oil  to  the  varying  power  which  is 
taken  off.  The  power  will  range  from 
the  full  capacity  of  the  engine  to 
nothing,  half-a-dozen  times  within  ten 
minutes." 


A  30  H.-P.   ENGINE, 


BUILT   BY   THE   NEW   ERA   IRON   WORKS,    DAYTON,   OHIO     U.  S.  A., 
RUNNING  ON  NATURAL  GAS. 


THE  RECORDING  GAUGE  FOR  STEAM  PRESSURE. 


By  Charles  A.  Hague. 


0 


'OR    many    years  the 
writer  has  been  deeply 
interested  from  a  pro- 
fessional standpoint  in 
the  subject  forming  the 
title    of    this     article. 
And,  the   argument   is 
at  least  plausible,  that 
if  the  steam  engine  in- 
dicator,    revealing  a 
diagram  of  the   forces 
within  the  cylinder,   is 
so  necessary  to  the  de- 
signing and   operating 
of  steam  machinery  ;  if 
the   knowledge   ob- 
tained   from   the    indi- 
cator card  has  been  so 
potent    in   bringing    the   steam    engine 
successively   and   successfully    through 
its  many  stages  up  to  its   present  prac- 
tical perfection,  why  should  we  not  be 
equally  well  informed  as  to    the  con- 
ditions and  operation  of  pressures  within 
various  kinds   of  vessels  and  pipes  de- 
voted to  the  useful  employment   of  all 
sorts  of  fluids  and  gases  ? 

The  fact  really  is,  that  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  be  well  informed  as  to  the 
continuance,  regularity  and  correctness 
for  the  purpose,  of  pressures  where 
pressures  are  used.  The  steam  engine 
is  a  more  or  less  complicated  machine, 
operated  by  a  fluid,  and  often  operating 
upon  a  fluid,  the  cause  and  effect  of  the 
energy  used,  so  to  speak,  being  subject 
to,  and  dependent  upon,  pressure. 
Could  there  be  any  folly  greater,  when 
searching  and  striving  for  economy  in 
operation,  than  to  remain  voluntarily 
ignorant  and  in  the  dark,  as  to  what 
has  been,  what  is,  and  what  probably 
will  be? 

Regularity,  that  key-stone  to  the 
arch,  is  just  as  easy  of  acquirement,  and 
much  more  satisfactory  to  live  with, 

500 


than  the  uncertainty  and  irregularity 
too  often  prevailing  in  the  management 
of  organized  effort  involved  in  the  uses 
of  pressure  and  power.  The  tendency 
of  the  times  in  steam  power  is  towards 
higher  and  higher  pressures,  higher 
ratios  of  expansion  in  engines,  and  con- 
sequently towards  more  expensive  and 
complicated  machinery.  The  study  of 
the  boiler  designer  to-day  is  to  meet 
the  demands  for  safety,  high  pressure 
and  economical  service  ;  and  in  propor- 
tion to  the  mechanical  details  involved, 
the  boiler  engineer's  task  is  as  arduous 
at  least  as  that  of  the  engine  designer. 

Aside  from  the  question  of  fuel  econ- 
omy, the  wear  and  strain  upon  the 
boiler  by  widely  varying  pressures 
within  short  spaces  of  time,  even  under 
the  old  regime  of  70  pounds  and  under, 
was  a  great  deal  more  serious  than  most 
people  comprehended ;  and  to-day, 
with  the  load  up  to  150  and  200  pounds 
per  square  inch,  the  steadiness  of  the 
pull  upon  the  metal  is  enhanced  im- 
measurably in  importance. 

The  modern,  internally-fired  boiler, 
with  its  heavy  shell,  its  thickness  calcu- 
lated upon  the  relation  between  the 
elastic  and  ultimate  tensile  strength, 
and  the  load  pressure  to  be  used,  is  not 
proportionately  as  strong  as  its  older 
and  thinner-shelled  brother.  Materials 
decrease  in -strength  value,  as  the  thick- 
ness increases  ;  they  do  not  so  readily 
resile,  and  the  liability  to  permanent 
distortion  of  section  is  greater.  It  is  a 
very  reasonable  theory  that  in  cylin- 
drical vessels,  when  the  pressure  per 
square  inch  approaches  the  tensile 
strength  limit,  adding  to  the  thickness 
will  not  increase  the  strength  of  the 
vessel. 

Reference  to  figures  will  aid  the  mind 
in  grasping  and  appreciating  the  sort 
of  experience  a  boiler  plate  goes  through, 


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